


Forgetting Liz Allan

by lowqualtom



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action, Avengers - Freeform, F/M, MJ - Freeform, Marvel - Freeform, Romance, Zendaya - Freeform, michellejones, peterparker, romcom, spiderman - Freeform, tom holland - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 23:30:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17293373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lowqualtom/pseuds/lowqualtom
Summary: Peter Parker is better-known as the boyfriend of the world-famous model, Liz Allan. After she unceremoniously dumps him, he feels lost and alone but his boss and mentor, Tony Stark, sends Peter to Hawaii under the guise of a holiday while also sending him on Spider-Man duties. However, Liz and her new boyfriend are there in the same hotel.Based off the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall(Also inspired by tvfanatic97 's series Rom-Com Tropes Galore, highly recommend :)





	1. Chapter 1

Her last words ran through Peters mind on a constant loop. I mean, how could he have expected it to last. Liz was climbing up the ladder with each passing day and becoming more and more successful in her modelling career. Peter, well, he was employee for Tony Stark. He worked in the labs, helping to developing new technology for his and the Avengers use. While it wasn't exactly a shit job, he loved it, it wasn't exactly on par with a model.

He understood, he didn't want to be the rock tied to Liz's perfectly sculpted ankle. But just because he understood didn't mean he wanted to break up. Peter loved Liz, she was probably the best thing that's ever happened to his somewhat pitiful life.

Of course Liz loved him too, at least he thought she did. But the second she told him 'there's someone else' before walking out the door, his head shattered into pieces. He spent that night crying over Project Runway while huddled under Liz's favourite blanket and eating ice cream.

Peter convinced himself he need a rebound. So the next two weeks was spent going out to various bars and clubs every night, attempting to get drunk but thanks to his stupidly fast metabolism, he couldn't. Even without the liquid courage, he managed to bring girls back to his apartment. The meaningless sex was just that, meaningless. He felt nothing.

The breaking point came when he was at work. Tony's AI, FRIDAY, ran through news headlines every few hours. Peter often ignored them, finding most of them irrelevant to him but that day, one caught his attention. He listened as FRIDAYS annoyingly calm voice stated; MODEL LIZ ALLEN SPOTTED WITH SINGER, FLASH THOMPSON. WHAT HAPPENED TO PREVIOUS BOYFRIEND, PETER PARKER?

The whole lab stopped and looked at him. Peter clenched his jaw and looked up from what he was working. Liz and Peter had been dating for years, he'd attended events with her and all sorts. He wasn't exactly unknown to the public, which also made it harder to be Spider-Man.

He cleared his throat and quietly asked FRIDAY to show him the news feed. A hologram came up, showing video footage of his ex-girlfriend making out with Flash in the middle of Central Park. It cut to another clip of them holding hands and walking around Times Square.

Then it cut to Peter, showing footage of the two of them while they were together. The also annoyingly chirpy presenter talked about Peter and where he worked, how he studied at MIT for years and was closely related to Tony Stark. However the worst part, was when they oh so happily announced Liz Allen had upgraded.

If the lab was quiet before it was now deafeningly silent. Peter sat up straight before grabbing the small round contraption the hologram had came out of. He was blinded by rage as he threw it as hard as he could which, thanks to his super-human strength, was incredibly hard, right at the glass wall to his left.

It crashed right through the glass, causing the whole pane to shatter entirely and the device only came to a stop once it hit the glass wall of the next room, leaving a large crack in it. Peters eyes widened once he realised what he'd done, he looked around the room at all the shocked faces of his colleagues. Except for Dr Banner, he was having trouble holding back the biggest laugh he'd ever done.

Mr Stark was going to kill him.

"Mr Parker, my office. Now,"

This was not the first nor the last time Peter had pissed off Tony Stark. He scrambled and gathered up his things; almost certain he was going to be fired no matter how close he was to Tony. The walk up to his mentor's office felt like the descent into hell, he wished it was, he'd rather face Satan than an angry Tony. Angry Tony was something he was far too familiar with.

The moment he stepped into Tony's office, a rather large rubber band ball game flying right at his face. Thank god for his hyperactive reflexes otherwise he probably would've broken his nose for the third time. Peter gulped as he looked between the ball and Tony.

"You've got quite the knack for breaking my shit, don't you kid?"

"Well- I- you see- Mr Stark-"

"No, my turn to talk. I hear your girlfriend broke up with you? No, I know she did. About time."

Peter furrowed his brows and stood gaping like a fish.

"You need to go somewhere to let off all this annoying teenager hormonal energy."

"I'm 24"

"Nope, you're still the 14-year-old kid with those massive stupid goggles you can't see in but can still kick some serious ass. Therefore, teenager. Anyway, I'm sending you to Hawaii."

"Hawaii, sir?" Peter raised his eyebrows. "I can't, I've got- work,"

"I'm literally your boss."

"Yeah but"

"Stop talking, let me finish. I'm sending you for some kind of holiday but there's also some weird- Sandman running around messing things up, almost exactly like you."

"No offence, Mr Stark, it sounds great and all but why are you sending me? Why aren't you going?"

"Again, little below my pay grade. You leave tomorrow, I'll send you all the details."

"O-ok, so-so I'm not fired?"

"No, yeah you're paying for the repairs."

So the next morning at 10am, Peter found himself boarding a private jet, bags packed for freaking Hawaii. He still hadn't quite wrapped his head around it, it was happening so quickly.

Tony had sent him all the files they had on this 'Sandman' character. He spent the night reading up on him and preparing himself for whatever the hell was meant to happen. His boss wished him well and sent him on his merry way.

Of course, Aunt May was worried, when was she not? Peter couldn't count the number of times she'd told him to be careful in the past hour, nor could he count the number of times she'd asked if he was okay and followed it up with 'are you sure?' It was getting a little tiring no matter how much he loved his Aunt.

Peter spent the entire plane ride playing with all the various buttons on the private jet. He felt like he was 15 again, flying to Germany on a plane for the first time ever about to fight Captain America. Hell, Peter even put on his damn suit and messed around with the web settings, again. Karen kept him good company too.

Peter enjoyed his alone time but it was quite strange travelling all by himself. It was weird not really talking to anyone besides Tony, Karen and May. He'd get used to it eventually he assumed, he hoped.

When he landed there was a driver waiting for him who took him to possibly the nicest hotel Peter had ever seen. All he wanted to do was have a fucking nap, he'd explore later.

So he went up to the front desk, waited in line behind a bickering couple. The receptionist looked incredibly bored, so she slammed the room key down and gave a sarcastic smile. "Have a good stay,"

Peter watched the couple walk off before he approached the desk. He looked at the woman in front of him. She was wearing a typical receptionist uniform but it looked incredibly flattering on her. The white blouse stood out against her dark complexion and the yellow flower tucked behind her ear helped to keep the wild curls out of her face. "Hi welcome to The Hibiscus what can I do for you?"

She gave him the fakest smile Peter have ever seen but he didn't blame her. She couldn't imagine being a hotel receptionist was the best job in the world.

"Uh, I need to check in it's probably under Tony Stark?"

"Are you saying you're Tony Stark? Pick another person to steal the identity of next time," The women, Michelle, as stated by her name tag, raised her eyebrows at him.

"No, no, no. I'm Peter Parker, Tony Stark is my boss, he's- yeah- can you just check please?" Peter leaned against the desk, giving her a tight-lipped smile before looking out the window next to him that overlooked some of the resort and the tiny smile quickly fell, letting out a curse under his breath.

Michelle followed his gaze and nodded, humming. "Oh yeah, Liz Allen, people are excited that she's here."

"She's my ex-girlfriend we broke up three weeks ago." Peter stood up straight, running a hand through his hair before looking at his shirt. "Ok, this is fine, totally fine."

Michelle's gaze landed behind him and he couldn't bring himself to turn around.

"Is she here?"

"Yep,"

"Is she walking this way?"

"Yep,"

"I wish I wasn't wearing this fucking shirt," Peter hissed and tugged at the ugly Hawaiian shirt Aunt May had given him.

"Fair enough," Michelle looked him up and down. "Why don't you try unbuttoning it?"

Peter undid one and looked at her hopefully, she shook at her head and held up another finger, so he undid another one. The look on Michelle's face wasn't a good one but it was too late.

"Peter?"

"Hey, hi," He whipped around and leaned against the front desk awkwardly.

"What're you doing here?"

"Uh, you know, Stark stuff."

Liz nodded slightly, fiddling with her fingers. She knew he was talking about Spider-Man but she also had the feeling he was lying his ass off. Why would Tony Stark send Spider-Man to Hawaii?

Before she could reply, someone walked up behind her, smacking her ass before slinging his arm around her shoulder. "Hey, Liz, have you seen my other shoe? It's gone missing. It's just like this one except for the other one, it's like the exact opposite, you know? Not an evil version just one for the other foot."

"Flash, this is Peter."

"Oh hey man, I'm Flash Thompson," He held his hand out and shook Peters.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you're- very, very, famous." Peter trailed off.

"Peter's my ex-boyfriend," Liz stated, causing Peter to shut his eyes, rubbing a hand over his forehead.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, Peter, I've heard a lot about you."

"Hm?" Peter raised his brows and looked at Liz. "You have?"

"Yeah, heard you broke up because you're a bit of a sad sack or something," Flash said, a small smirk on his face. Liz visibly paled and tensed up as Peter bit the inside of his cheek.

"Sorry to interrupt," Michelle spoke up, another fake smile donning her face, "Mr Parker, I've found your booking. Mr Stark appears to have booked you the Aloha Suite, on the top floor, overlooking the ocean, very large room."

A room key was slapped down in front of him. Liz nodded and made some poor excuse to get away, taking Flash's hand and heading back to wherever they were staying.

Peter sighed and grabbed the room key, slapping it against the desk a couple times. "Thanks,"

"You're welcome. You know- it's a bit messed up she's here, already with someone else."

"Yeah, yep, thanks." Peter stood up straight. "I'm gonna go, change my shirt now."

"Good idea. Enjoy your stay, Mr Parker." Michelle said, the monotone voice and bored expression returning.

Peter said nothing as he stalked off to his hotel room, immediately crashing into the bed and falling asleep until dinner.

At 7pm, he got dressed in to a better shirt, a plain white shirt and headed down to the Hotels restaurant. He had to admit, Liz being here did ruin the whole 'holiday' side of the trip so he guessed the only thing he could do was focus on Sandman. Thank god he'd at least been given time to settle in and prepare himself for the rest of the week.

He was seated at a table and of course, it was facing Liz and Flash. Just his fucking luck. Peter sighed and put his head in his hands but shot his head and gave a small smile when Flash called his name.

"Peter! Hey, do you wanna come sit with us?"

"Flash, no," Liz whispered as Flash kept insisting he coming over.

"No, thanks for the offer Flash but I'm fine here, by myself," Peter muttered the last part as the aftermath of a successful marriage proposal sounded behind them.

He couldn't stand it, the look Liz was giving him and the constant stupid invitations from Flash. This was the guy Liz left him for? Just because he was famous or whatever?

So Peter pushed himself up from the table and started to leave when Liz called his name from behind. He sighed and turned around. "What?"

"Did you follow me here? Did my assistant tell you where I was going?"

"What? No, Liz," Peter furrowed his brows.

"Then why are you here? There's no way you're here for... Stark, stuff," Liz folded her arms across her chest.

"I am, actually, there's some guy made of sand running around terrorising people,"

"Oh,"

Peter nodded as Liz pursed her lips. There was nothing more to say so he just turned around and kept walking.

He wound up at the bar, getting himself glass after glass of whiskey. Not being able to get drunk really sucked sometimes. Peter knew he was getting looks from people and the bartender was sure as hell staring.

People were starting to leave when someone took a seat beside him. Peter looked up from his dying phone to see the man from the couple he saw bickering at the beginning of the day. The man stuck a hand out to Peter, catching him in a handshake. "Ned Leeds. You got a hell of a grip there."

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Uh, Peter, Peter Parker." He nodded and took another sip of his drink.

"How many drinks have you had tonight, Peter?" Ned asked, smirking a little at the collection of glasses in front of him.

"17," The bartender cut in, causing Peter to sigh for what felt like the hundredth time today.

"Wow," Ned laughed, "Someone's having a tough day,"

"Hm, yeah, well my famous ex-girlfriend is here with her new super famous boyfriend three weeks after we broke up so yeah, tough day. What about you? Still fighting with your wife?" Peter said, realising he sounded a little insensitive the second it came out of his mouth. He blamed it on the fact it'd been a long day. "Sorry, man, that was out of line."

"Well, you're not wrong. Betty and I are ok now but your day sounds way shittier than mine so I feel better." Ned laughed and took a sip of his own drink.

"You're welcome," Peter snorted.

Ned was about to say something else when another person sat down beside him. Both men looked to their left to see Michelle sitting next to them, now out of her uniform and in a floaty dress.

"Hello Mr Parker, Mr Leeds, how've your days been?" Michelle asked a small smile on her face. Peter knew she was just being polite and didn't actually care so all he did was give a smile. He listened to Ned ramble a bit about the fight between him and his wife.

Peter finished his drink and looked at Michelle, who looked back at him and put two fingers to her head, pretending to shoot herself in the head. He laughed a little and shook his head. Peter thought the interaction was over but apparently, it wasn't because Michelle soon said something directed at him.

"Having a famous ex-girlfriend staying at the same hotel as you were her new super famous boyfriend must really take a toll on you. I don't think attempting to balance the scales with whiskey is going to do you much good."

Peter looked up at her and was about to reply when his phone started ringing. He looked at the Called ID and tensed up. "Sorry, I gotta take this. It's my boss,"

Michelle waved him off and talked to Ned some more, well, he talked and she pretended to listen.

"Hey, Mr Stark,"

"Peter, how are you? Anything happen yet?"

"Uh no, no, not yet. It's only been a day,"

"Mr Stark?" A voice next to him cut in. "Your boss is Mr Stark? Dude, that is so cool!"

"Peter? Who was that?" The voice rang out from the phone.

"Just uh some guy I meet at the ba- the hotel, at the hotel,"

"You're lying to me, where are you? FRIDAY scan his vitals,"

"How are you scanning my vitals through the ph-"

"You forget I made this phone and gave it to you, have you been drinking? Don't answer that, I know you have,"

"Yeah but," Peter glanced at the two sitting next to him before whispering into the phone. "You know it's literally impossible to get drunk,"

"Not if you drank a whole bottle of vodka in five minutes, you'd be drunk for about 20 minutes,"

"Why would I- never mind, thanks for the hotel, Mr Stark. It's great'" Peter sighed and leaned his forehead on the table.

"Is it really because the twitter says your ex-girlfriend is there with some singer?"

"Yeah, yep, she's here,"

"Sucks to be you, now get the job done, kid,"

"Ok, By-" Peter didn't even finish his sentence before the call was ended.

"Wow, Tony Stark knows who I am," Ned said in wonder once the call was over.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Peter sighed and tapped his fingers on the table.

"So what do you do for New York's local tin can?" Michelle asked, not even a hint of a smile on her face.

"I'm an electrical engineer, I design different uh- to put it in sort, different kinds of technology that would aid the Avengers on their missions and such,"

"That's so cool," Ned said in awe while Michelle raised her brows in shock.

"Impressive," She said, leaning on the bar. "What kind of technology?"

"Well, at the moment it's just about improving their suits in any way we can to make sure they finish every mission they can as quickly and as successfully as possible," Peter nodded.

"So what are you doing here?" Michelle questioned, it was evident in her tone that she suspected something was up.

"Uh-"

"Who cares! Your job is cool as fuck! I bet you earn a shit ton of money,"

"Well," Peter laughed a bit, "yeah, the pay isn't bad,"

Ned continued to gush about how cool it was he got to work with the Tony Stark. Peter wasn't listening, instead, he downed another glass of whiskey and looked around the room. Across the room, there was a group of girls and he made eye contact with one of them.

Peter wasn't going to lie, she was pretty. He sipped his drink and watched as she gave him a sly smile, biting down on her lip. His eyes trailed her up and down before he gave her a quick wink. A scoff sounded from beside him and he looked up to see Michelle standing up from the bar.

"Who knew dorks could almost flirt." She patted Peters shoulder before exiting the bar, his eyes watching her leave.


	2. Chapter 2

Peter woke up the next day and nearly fell out of the bed when he rolled over to see the sleeping girl next to him. He sat up in the bed, realising they were in his hotel room so there wasn't much he could really do. A hand ran through his hair and he rubbed his eyes.

He decided against waking her up so he got out of bed and got dressed before heading down to the breakfast buffet. Peter prayed he wouldn't bump into her for the rest of the trip, not likely but he could try.

It probably wasn't the smartest idea to be reading over classified Avengers files at the breakfast table but he also didn't really care. From the sounds of it, he'd have to really lure this guy out, somewhere as far away from the beach as possible. It wasn't going to be easy but hey, he was Spider-Man.

Peter slammed the file shut quickly and hugged it into his chest when Ned and his wife approached the table. He gave them a tight-lipped smile and Ned gave a massive grin back. "Peter, this is my wife, Betty. Betty, this is Peter, we met last night."

"Nice to meet you, Betty," He smiled politely and stood up to shake her hand before placing a friendly kiss on her cheek, exactly how Aunt May had taught him to greet a woman.

Betty smiled and blushed a little. "It's nice to meet you too, Peter,"

"We're going to head to the beach after breakfast and do surfing lessons if you wanna come with?" Ned asked, holding Betty's hand as Peter sat back down.

"Oh, um I got work-"

"C'mon, you're in Hawaii, Peter!" Ned smiled, attempting to convince him to come.

"Alright, alright, I guess I can make some time," Peter smiled.

Ned and Betty celebrated and then left him alone to his breakfast. Peter ate in silence while just trying to figure out how the fuck he was going to meet this guy. It was even hard because they didn't know his name but that was apart of Peters mission anyway.

The girl he met last night walked into the buffet and Peter attempted to hide as much as possible. Hiding proved to be difficult when there was nothing to hide behind. He cringed as the girl walked right up to him. "Hey Peter, I had fun last night,"

Peter faked a smile as she ran a hand around his collar. She twisted slightly as she talked, her bottom lip being caught between her teeth. "Yeah, fun, lots of fun,"

"You totally bailed this morning though,"

"Oh, sorry about that, I was just rather hungry, you know." Peter gestured to his empty plate of food.

"Yeah, I get it," She smiled coyly. "Maybe we should do it again sometime?"

"Yeah, maybe but uh- that time is not right now," Peter stood up from the table, grabbing the files. "I kinda promise a friend, you know, the guy I was with last night, that I'd do something with him today, so um, see you around."

Peter left without letting her get another word in, rushing up to his room and getting changed. He grabbed all the things one generally needs for the beach before heading down to the surf shake where Ned and Betty were already waiting.

"Hey, Peter! We already got you aboard," Ned smiled as he handed him one.

"Oh, thanks, what do I owe you?" Peter took the board and put his stuff down next to where Ned and Betty had put theirs.

"You don't owe us anything dude, now get your shirt off and let's go."

Peter ended up having a really good time at the beach. He stopped worrying about Sandman and Tony and May and Liz had finally slipped his mind. An actual laugh escaped his mouth for the first time in weeks. He also didn't exactly mind when Ned told him he was ripped and he had to pull Betty away to stop her from staring.

He was undoubtedly the best surfer of the bunch, perhaps it was from his abilities but obviously, he brushed it off as 'just being a natural.' It was Peters first time surfing ever. It was his first time in a tropical place and he had to say, he really wishes he didn't have to be 'Spider-Manning' right now.

When they finished the couple convinced Peter to come along to the hotel's outdoor concert event with them. He reluctantly agreed again and they walked up to the entrance where Michelle was collecting in money for the tickets.

The trio approached the table and Peter formed over enough cash to pay for all of them.

"Peter, Ned," Michelle nodded at them, "You must be Betty it's nice to meet you,"

Betty smiled and shook her hand, both girls exchanging compliments because apparently, that's what girls do.

"Well," Michelle put leis over their heads, "Have fun, Happy fourth of July."

Ned and Betty went ahead while Peter grabbed back the change. A small smirk crossed Michelle's face, "Real smooth this morning, 'I was just rather hungry'"

"You saw that?" Peter cringed, taking the change.

"Mhmm," She looked at him, "Ms Allen did too and she did not look happy, I rather enjoyed watching you squirm,"

"Well, Liz's opinion is the last- the last thing I care about right now," Peter got quieter but gave Michelle a tight-lipped smile.

"Enjoy lying to yourself, Peter," She hurried him along as other people walked up to her to pay, as he walked off he could hear her speaking to them in Japanese. Of course, she can speak Japanese, who doesn't?

As Peter went to join Ned and Betty he bumped into Flash and Liz.

"Peter! What's up?" Flash pulled him into an awkward bro hug as Peter gave another one of his famous, fake smiles.

"Uh nothing, nothing, just uh went to the beach this morning." Peter tugged at the hem of his shirt, it was a nervous habit, fiddling with anything he could find.

"You should come with us sometime, it'd be fun." Flash offered, sounding far too excited for his current girlfriend's ex to be joining them. Liz's eyes widened and she tugged at Flash's hand, shaking her head.

"I'm ok, thanks Flash," Peter looked behind him, trying to find any way possible to escape.

Thank god for the employee who was obsessed with Flash, the singer was called on stage and Peter could only sit through 30 seconds of whatever stupid song he was performing. He walked out to the beach, kicking his feet in the sand. Stupid sand.

Peter was minding his own business when he heard a pair of footsteps come up behind him. He turned to see Michelle walking up to him.

"So, Peter, what're you really doing here?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"What do you mean?" He laughed nervously.

"Well, no one goes to Hawaii for work, alone," Michelle replied, leaning forward into him, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "I've worked here for four years, I've seen a lot of people come and go from this hotel and you're definitely the weirdest one,"

Peter furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be offended or not,"

"That's up to you to decide,"

"Shouldn't you be working?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not very good at customer service,"

"I noticed," He laughed a bit and looked at her.

"Loser," She narrowed her eyes and flipped him off. Peter shook his head and smiled a bit. "You didn't answer my question, why are you here?"

"Well," Peter began, attempting to get himself as much time as possible. "Mr Stark and I go a long way back, I started to intern for him when I was 15,"

"I didn't ask for a life story,"

"Shut up, I'm getting there. Anyway, he got me into MIT and paid for my tuition because I never would've been able to afford it any other way and then he hired me to work in his labs but- he's like a dad to me. So he kinda knows everything about me. I was with Liz for so long, I had a stupid crush on her in high school and we got together when I was in college so Mr Stark knows her pretty well too. Our breakup was in the fucking news, so obviously he found out. I got angry and broke two of his glass walls so he decided I needed a break and sent me here. Of course, he's still making me do some kind of work but yeah that's it."

"If Mr Stark is like a dad to you why do you call him Mr Stark?"

"I don't know, I respect him I guess. I've called him that since I was 15," Peter shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your actual dad?" Michelle watched him carefully.

"My parents died in a plane crash when I was little, so I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle and then uh, my uncle was murdered when I was 14, just before I met Mr Stark,"

"Shit, I'm sorry, Peter," Michelle's voice softened as she watched him dig his feet into the sand.

"It's ok," He shrugged. "It was nearly ten years ago, I'm fine, it's just May and I now but I like it like that. Wouldn't change it for the world,"

Everything was quiet for a moment. The only sound was the waves crashing into the sand and the wind rustling through the leaves in the palm trees. Michelle brought a hand up to play with a necklace around her neck. "Anyway, dork, stop moping and come back. There's a hotel beach party tonight, come have a good time, alright?"

She didn't give Peter a chance to reply before she walked off back to the main event.

Peter's spidey senses had been going off all day after he'd talked to Michelle. He wasn't sure if his mind was just playing tricks with him but after ten years he was pretty well in tune with himself.

Even so, he took Michelle's advice and went to the beach party. He'd packed the Iron Spider for this trip for multiple reasons. First of all, he had no idea what this Sandman was like, so he needed all the help he could get. Secondly, it travelled in a ring so there was no more having to run off and get changed.

When he got there he immediately went over to the bar where Ned and the surf instructor, Chuck. They greeted him with less awkward bro hugs than the one he'd had with Flash earlier in the day. They gave him a drink and he downed it, even though he may as well have been drinking water.

He listened to Ned rant about his failing sex with Betty, which was rather amusing, to be honest. Chuck talked about something stupid that he could barely understand from his extremely thick (not to mention, fake) surfer accent.

A couple drinks in, he made some excuse about going to get warm in front of the fire. He stood up and noticed Michelle giving out fake smiles and nibbles. Peter walked right on up to her and grabbed one from the tray. "Hand out any real smiles with these?"

"Very funny, Parker," Michelle gave him a real smile, very small, but real. "I'm glad to see you here,"

"Glad to see me, huh?" Peter smiled and took in her appearance. She may be in a hotel issued dress, but Peter thought she looked rather pretty. Her hair was still a wild abundance of curls that she'd pinned out of her face and she wore little to no makeup.

"Are you flirting with me? At least it's better than whatever the fuck I saw last night," Michelle raised an eyebrow at him.

"Flirting? What, no, never," Peter joked and took a sip of his drink, his eyes never leaving hers.

"You're a bad liar,"

"You'd be surprised,"

"Would I?" She whispered, giving him a somewhat knowing look. Peter almost panicked but there was literally no way she could know, Spider-Man hadn't made an appearance in Hawaii yet.

Peter laughed and brushed it off, shaking his head and looking at the sand. "Anyway, do you wanna maybe hang out, you know, not in an official hotel event?"

"Sure," Michelle shrugged. "A bunch of us are heading to an after party type thing down the beach if you wanna come,"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Peter replied, smiling for real which was rather rare on this trip.

"Cool, I can leave as soon as this plate runs out of food and then I'll meet you down here like five minutes after so so can get changed," Michelle sashayed off and continued to hand out food, leaving a blushing Peter behind.

Peter knew it was weird to be moving on so quickly but he almost didn't care. Liz had moved on before they even broke up. He continued to talk to his new, well he guesses he can consider them friends now, up until the point when Michelle approached him.

"You ready to go, loser? Not too drunk?" Michelle jeered at him, bumping his shoulder with her own.

"No, I'm not too drunk," Peter smiled at her. If only she knew.

So the two walked off together, making small talk. They walked further down the beach until they walked into a medium sized group of people and a small fire. Michelle led him to a spot in front of the fire and sat down facing the ocean.

Peter sat down next to her, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows. He sat with his knees bent and leant his arms on them, holding himself up. Michelle sat with her legs outstretched, her hands behind her, holding her up.

"Are you from Hawaii?" Peter asked, looking at her.

"Nah, I'm from Chicago," Michelle said, looking at her feet as they wiggled in the sand. "I've been here for four years,"

"Why'd you come here then? I mean Hawaii is nice and all but I'd never think to move here,"

"I followed my boyfriend here," Michelle said and then at the look on Peters' face she clarified; "Ex, ex-boyfriend,"

"Oh," Peter nearly sighed in relief. "You don't seem like the type to follow a boyfriend across the country,"

"Trust me, I was surprised too, he's a surfer dude. Yeah, I moved here, I was living with him for three weeks and then I walked in on him cheating on me," Michelle shrugged and looked at him. "But I stayed, I like it here,"

"Shit, that sucks but at least something kinda good came out of it," Peter said, his eyes scanning her face.

"Yeah, something good did come out of it," Michelle smiled small but her eyes quickly widened at something behind him. Peter turned to see the biggest guy he'd ever seen walking up the beach. "Oh shit, that's him,"

"That's- that's your ex?" Peter stuttered, his senses going crazy.

"Yep," Michelle stood up. "If I say run, run,"

"What- Michelle!" Peter stood up and followed her as she stormed up to her ex.

"Hey, asshole!"

Peters' eyes widened as Michelle continued to shout obscenities at him. He ran up behind her, calling her name and trying to get her to calm down. "Look, Michelle, it's fine, I'll deal with it,"

"You sleeping with my girl?" Her ex-boyfriend stood almost a foot taller than Peter and a foot wider than him. He was built like a brick and Peter's senses were going nuts. "Keeping her bed warm for me?"

"No, no, I'm not sleeping with her," Peter stuttered as he backed away from Michelle's ex who was getting closer and closer before he finally swung a fist at him.

Peters eyes widened but thank god his reflexes reacted like they knew he was swinging before her ex even did. Peter caught his fist, which clearly made both him and his cronies angry.

One of them was coming at Peter from behind her ex so he pushed the fist he'd already caught backwards, causing him to elbow his own friend right in the face and knock them out cold. Another fist, he didn't know who's, came flying at him but he managed to duck and send his own fist into someone's stomach.

They doubled over in pain and Peter took the chance to hook his arm around their neck, flipping the man in a full circle and sending him into the ground flat on his back. There was only one guy left, Michelle's ex.

Peter sent a fist into his stomach but it went straight through, sand blowing out the front and back. Oh shit. The newly discovered Sandman used Peters distraction to his advantage and hit Peter across the face. His fist felt like a fucking rock with the weight of a car behind it.

Peter groaned and took his injured opportunity to run into a shack on the beach. He could hear Michelle calling after him before yelling at her ex. He pressed a spot on his ring and then the familiar feeling over the suit taking over his body came.

He burst out the other side of the shack and came around the back of Sandman in an attempt to throw off the idea of him being Spider-Man.

His head was still pounding but he pushed through it, telling Karen to record what was happening and send it to Mr Stark once they were finished. Panic ensued when he noticed the already huge guy was even bigger, taller than the shack now and was getting taller by the second.

He knew he had to get him off the sand but he didn't know how. Peter noticed a palm tree to the side and used an old trick he knew well. Peter webbed himself to a high point on the train, making himself spin around it a few times to gain momentum before releasing himself straight into Sandman's chest.

Although, he once again flew straight through his chest, causing him to panic because the ground was coming at him and fast. He turned in the air and webbed himself onto the shoulders of Sandman and propelled himself towards his head, which he could expect because he couldn't see Peter.

It worked pretty well because Peter managed to blow his head into pieces. He watched as the Sandman shrunk a little in size but regrew ahead.

"Mr Sandman, you could've at least bought me drink before busting my balls," Peter quipped but cursed at himself at the lame insult.

"Was that a reference to the song Mr Sandman by The Chordettes, Peter?" Karen chirped into his ear.

"Yes, Karen, it was,"

"Very clever, Peter,"

"Thanks," He said breathlessly as he swung around the palm tree again to launch himself onto the Sandman.

"I could squash you like a bug, Spiderboy," He growled, pulling Peter off his chest and throwing him to the ground.

"Oh wow, haven't heard that one before," Peter almost rolled his eyes and caught his fist of sand, now shaped like a sledgehammer.

"Yes you have, 187 times to be exact," Karen said, still not quite understanding sarcasm.

"I know, Karen, I was joking," Peter breathed out as his arms were shaking under the weight but he managed to push him off and stand up.

Peter suddenly realised there was no way he was winning this fight right now. All he could do was make sure everyone was safe. He quickly looked around to see that most everyone had run off the beach, except Michelle.

She was standing right in the middle of the beach, arms folded over her chest.

"Can you stop being an asshole? Luke? For two seconds," Michelle spoke, acting as if he wasn't two stories tall and made of sand.

"Mi-Ma'am," Peter began, flipping over another giant fist aimed at him. "I'm gonna have to ask you to get off the beach,"

"Shut up, Spider-Man," Michelle started walking closer to the both of them. "Luke, I'm gonna need you to calm the fuck down,"

"Come closer, Michelle," Luke chuckled before grabbing Peter in one hand and hurling him as high and as far as he could into the ocean.

"Shit, Shit, Shit, Karen, what do I do?"

"Deploying Parachute,"

"No!"

It was too late, it'd been deployed and Peter was tangled up in it as he fell into the ocean. He shut his eyes on instinct even though he didn't need too and tried to fight his way out.

The material was stuck over the top of him and god, he was having déjà vú. He was remembering the time he was 15 and nearly drowning in a lake in New York, but this time, Iron Man wasn't around to fish him out.

But fuck he's an idiot, this is the Iron Spider, he can fucking fly. Peter had never done it but now seemed like the right time to try, unless he wanted to drift off to sea.

Thank god the mask didn't let water in so he could still talk. "Karen! Karen make me fly or whatever the fuck!"

"I don't know what 'whatever the fuck is' but I can make you fly," Karen spoke calmly as she turned on the jets in his suit, lifting him out of the water and attempting to copying Tony's flying position.

The parachute was still tangled around him but he was out of the water, that was the important part. "Karen can you like, cut the parachute or something?"

"I sure can, Peter," Karen replied as she cut the parachute and Peter watched as it fell into the ocean.

It was now Peter realised how far he actually was from the shore, he once again attempted to copy Tony's flying position and wobbled in the air as he flew. Once he reached the beach he didn't know how to get down so he just cut the thrusts, knowing the legs would come out and catch him.

He was right and the legs did catch him, standing him up. Peter stumbled a little before realising he was gone, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Yet still standing the middle of the beach was Michelle, looking bored.

"You suck at your job,"


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh come on! I've never met the guy before I've got no idea what he does! Where'd he even go?" Peter groaned a little, gesturing in her direction.

"I calmed him down and he left," Michelle shrugged.

"You seemed to uh know him, what's his name?" Peter folded his arms over his chest.

"Luke Kalama,"

"Karen, do a rundown on Luke Kalama, send it to Mr Stark," Peter whispered looking to the side as if his AI was standing right there.

"Who's Karen?" Michelle asked.

"My AI," Peter shrugged. "She helps me a lot with this stuff,"

"Hm, I can tell,"

"You should go back to the ho- wherever you came from,"

"Well, I would but I kinda came here with this guy who I'm not exactly trying to piss off. He got decked in the face by Luke and run off, probably to pass out somewhere. I think you might know him, Peter Parker?" A small smirk crossed Michelle's face as she talked about him.

"Yeah, yeah, heard of the guy. Didn't know he was in Hawaii," Peter went to scratch the back of his head only to realise he was wearing his mask. "I'll find him and send him back to you, just uh, just go back to the hotel,"

"I never said I was staying in a hotel,"

"I mean I just assumed,"

"Yeah, yeah, alright Spiderboy, return Peter Parker to me and we'll be okay," Michelle said, bored once again before turning and walking off the beach.

Peter sighed and shook his head, turning and facing the ocean. "Holy fuck,"

"Who was that, Peter?" Karen asked.

"Michelle,"

"Your heart rate just increased, do you like Michelle, Peter?"

"What? No!" Peter squeaked.

"Ok, do you want me to see what I can find out about Michelle?"

"No, no, no, don't do that,"

"Ok, Peter. You should probably go back to Michelle now,"

"Yeah, probably. Talk to you later, Karen."

"Have a good night, Peter,"

With that, he pressed the middle of the emblem on his chest, causing the suit to retract back to a ring on his finger.

He slowly walked back to the hotel, catching his breath and processing what the hell had just happened. He could see Michelle standing in the lobby area, foot tapping the ground and arms folded over her chest.

Peter walked into the lobby and right up to her, hands shoved in his pockets. He gave a small smile but stopped when it hurt the side of his face.

Michelle's hand reached out and turned his head to the side. "That's a nasty bruise you got there," She pointed out. "I'll go get you some ice,"

Peter nodded as she walked off, it was funny how she hadn't even questioned where he went and instead just tended to him. He sat down in one of the comfortable chairs, stretching his body out and groaning a little as everything ached.

Michelle came back with an ice pack and what looked like some ointment. She sat down in the chair next to him and unscrewed the lid of the tube, squeezing some out before lightly rubbing it onto the side of his face. Neither spoke while she rubbed it in, both just taking in what the fuck had happened. Michelle handed him and ice pack and he held it against his face.

"Thanks," He said, giving her a small smile.

"Just doing my job," Michelle stood up from the chair and looked at him. "You should head up to your room now, get some rest,"

Peter nodded and stood up.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Mr Parker," She called out as she walked away.

"See you," Peter waved before taking in a deep breath and going up to his room.

The second he sat down on his bed his phone started ringing. He sighed and picked up, knowing it was Tony.

"You got your ass beat, kid,"

"I know, I was there, Tony,"

"Tony, huh? Someone's grouchy,"

"Like you said, I just got my ass kicked. Whatever, did Karen you send you anything about that guy?"

"Yeah, he's got a few petty criminal charges but that's all. Never been associated with any gangs or anything of the sort. I've also been through the footage and it appears that he can use the sound around him to grow,"

"Yeah, I figured that out. He can control it like crazy too, turn it into rock and completely blow it away when he wants too. I don't know what the fuck I'm gonna do,"

"Well today you get some rest, tomorrow you sleep in, eat well, go for a swim or something and then you try to figure out what to do."

"Ok, Mr Stark," Peter sighed.

"I need to teach you how to fly, don't I?"

"That'd be nice, Mr Stark,"

"Good work today,"

And with that final sentence, the call ends.

Even though Peter is the most tired he's been in probably months, he couldn't sleep. Too many thoughts weighed heavy on his mind. They ranged from Liz to Sandman to Michelle to Tony to Ned, he couldn't seem to just settle on one thing.

He left the doors to his private balcony left open, a gentle breeze coming through, combating the tropical climate of the island. No one would have ever guessed Spider-Man got his ass kicked by some asshole made of sand a couple hours ago.

No one would have ever guessed his famous ex-girlfriend was staying in the same hotel as him with her new very famous boyfriend. Peter sure as hell would have never guessed it and really wished that wasn't actually true.

As much as Peter pretended he was fine, he wasn't. He wasn't even close to it. The way he'd been acting recently, this wasn't Peter. This was a pathetic, whiny asshole who's too afraid to confront his feelings.

Liz and Peter had been together for so long, he'd watched her grow and supported her the entire way. Liz had helped Peter keep his shit together through college and mended him every night when he returned looking like he'd been hit by a truck.

He told her about Spider-Man pretty soon into them dating, he knew he could trust her. They'd been friends throughout high school and knew almost everything about each other. It was pretty hard to hide him coming back every night at 2 am without Liz thinking the worst.

It'd come out one night when she'd stayed up and watched him walk through the door, looking like shit. Peter had been cornered and yelled out while tears streamed down her face.

At first, she accused him of being in a fight club and escalated into accusing him of cheating on her in some sort of sadistic, ritualistic satanist group. Yeah, the only option he really had was to just tell her who he was.

Liz was shocked, to say the least. Peter explained everything, going all the way back to the spider bite, explaining what the 'Stark Internship' in high school was. He explained Germany, Homecoming (which he'd ditched her at) and multiple other instances involving her.

Even though they were broken up now, he knew Liz wouldn't say anything. He trusted her and even though he was slightly pissed off at her, he knew she wasn't heartless. She wouldn't reveal his identity just out of spite, especially when Peter hadn't even done anything wrong.

At the moment Peter felt like a rock, grey and moody but also having no fucking feels whatsoever. He didn't like this Peter. Peter wanted to be the Peter that was awkward and blushed, the Peter that stumbled over his words as much as he stumbled over his own feet. Instead he was annoying Peter, the Peter that drank even though it didn't do anything, the Peter that had sex with random girls in an attempt to validate himself.

Peter knew he was still Spider-Man without the suit but was Peter even Peter? Who was Peter? Who is Peter?

It was late but his phone started buzzing from underneath the pillow. On instinct, he pulled it out and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Peter," The voice was all too familiar.

"Liz?" He sat up in the bed, feeling even more awake. "Is everything ok?"

"The thing on the beach is all over the news and the internet and everything. Are you ok? Is this why you're here?" Her voice was actually full of genuine concern, surprising Peter.

"Uh yeah, Mr Stark thought I should deal with it, it's a bit below his pay grade,"

"I'm gonna kick that can of baked beans into another dimension if you get killed, Peter,"

"Can of- whatever, I'm sure you will Liz. I'm fine, couple bruises but I've had worse,"

"I know," Liz sighed. "But I still don't exactly like watching you be thrown around like a sack of potatoes, it's kind of scary,"

"Just be glad you're not the potatoes," Peter grumbled.

"Trust me, I am," Liz laughed a little in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I just-just stay safe, okay Pete?"

"Okay, Liz. Goodnight,"

"Goodnight, Peter,"

He hung up his phone for a second time before closing his eyes, falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves.

The next morning he woke up to the same thing he fell asleep too, just with a few other soothing noises on top. Peter felt well rested for once in a long time. The sun was shining brightly through his window, warming his skin in a delightful way.

He could smell the salt in the air and the waft of different breakfast foods. Peter pushed his hair, that was now incredibly curly thanks to the humidity, out of his face, thinking about how he needed a haircut. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up in the bed before getting out and throwing on the first shirt and pair of shorts he could find.

"Hey, Karen?" (Fuck Siri, all Peter needed was Karen.)

"Good morning, Peter. Is your whole body but more specifically your face feeling better?" Karen chimed from his phone, which he grabbed and paced the room with yeah.

"Yeah, yeah it is. Do you think Michelle will notice the bruise is pretty much gone?"

"Why only Michelle, Peter?"

"Because she's the only one who really saw it, don't get all sassy on me,"

"I would never get sassy with you,"

"You just did it again, actually,"

"Did I?" Karen said, the AI sounding as sarcastic as she possibly could.

"Have you been talking to Tony recently?"

"Perhaps, he is my creator after all,"

"Yeah, yeah, what's the time?"

"It is 11:43 in the morning,"

"Oh wow, I slept in a lot,"

"Yes, I normally wake you at 7 every morning but Mr Stark said that you are on holiday so I should not wake you. I was also tracking your sleep patterns and they seemed to be a lot better than recent,"

"Oh, well thanks for not waking me,"

"You're welcome, Peter. You should go and eat some breakfast now, Peter. It is best to have something to eat within an hour of waking up and you have been awake for 27 minutes now,"

"Okay, thanks Karen, talk to you later,"

"Anytime, Peter,"

Peter turned his phone off and put it in his pocket, heading down to get breakfast. It was almost empty since he was arriving so late but he didn't mind at all. He grabbed a random yet large selection of food before sitting down at a random table. He scrolled through Instagram, looking at Spider-Man accounts while picking at his food.

He looked up just before two hands slammed down on his table. Peter shut off his phone and smiled up at Ned. "Dude!" Peters new friend exclaimed. "Did you know Spider-Man was here? You must've known! It's nuts right?"

"Yeah, yeah nuts. I did know he was here, we- we've talked," Peter nodded and pursed his lips.

"You talk to Spider-Man?" Ned exclaimed. Peter looked around to check if anyone was listening.

"Yeah, man, I'm not really supposed to talk about it,"

"Oh right, right. I get it, Avengers stuff," Ned nodded and sat down across from him. "So- you must be more important to Mr Stark than you say you are,"

"Well," Peter squeaked, realising he'd dug himself into a hole. "Mr Stark and I, we go way back, I started interning for him when I was 14 so yeah. I've been around him for ten years, we've uh- bonded I guess,"

"That's so cool," Ned's eyes widened. "So do you like- run Avengers missions?"

"Uh- In the past, yeah," Peter gulped before looking off in the distance, pretending to see something. He scribbled his number on a napkin before sliding it over to his new friend. "Oh, Ned man, I gotta go, talk later on yeah? Here's my number,"

"Oh, ok, Peter. Have a good day?" Ned smiled and waved as Peter left the breakfast buffet.

Peter ran his hands over his face and sighed, walking through the lobby. He tugged at his hair, cursing under his breath. What an idiot, you'd think after pretty successfully keeping his identity under wraps for ten years, it wouldn't all fall apart in Hawaii of all places.

"Everything ok, Mr Parker?" Michelle asked boredly, hardly looking up from her computer.

"Uh, yep, fine," Peter walked over to her desk and hesitated a bit before forcing himself to spit it out. "When do you finish your shift? Or go on break? I don't know, however your job works,"

"I finish my shift at 1, so another three-quarters of an hour. May I ask why, Peter?" Michelle looked up, quirking an eyebrow at the somewhat flustered boy in front of her.

"I heard that Laie Point is pretty nice so I was wondering if you wanted to go, with me, go on the walk with me, I mean," Peter stuttered, he felt like the nerdy teenage Peter again, not the (somewhat confident) person (and superhero) he'd grown to be.

"Yeah, I gathered that Peter," A hint of amusement washed over her voice. "The walks in a pain in the ass but sure, I'll go with you, meet me here at 1:15,"

"Really?" His eyes lit up as he took in her answer. "I mean- yeah sure, see you then. Bye Michelle,"

"Bye Peter," She smiled slightly as the boy backed away, not turning around until he bumped into a chair. Peter whirled around but gave her a couple more glances over his shoulder before he finally walked away normally.

He couldn't really believe he'd just done that. Peter had just asked a girl he'd known for three days on a date, at least he thought it was a date. Was it a date? Either way, he'd been shitting on Liz for moving on so quickly while he wasn't all that much better.

Peter busied himself by sitting on his balcony, reading a book and occasionally fiddling with some tech he'd been working on and packed for the trip. Karen reminded him when it was ten minutes past one of his plans with Michelle.

He put on some proper shoes and went down to the lobby. Michelle was waiting near the front door, occupying herself with her phone. Peter couldn't help but look her up and down. She was wearing a plain white tank top with a bikini underneath and a pair of shorts. Her hair had been put into a braid in an attempt to keep it out of her face.

Peter walked up to her and smiled small when she looked up at him. "Hey,"

"Hey, let's go on a walk we'll probably regret,"

In a way, she was right. Peter had soon figured out that accelerated healing and whatever else his body did, didn't stop him from sweating. Sure, he was barely puffing but the amount of sweat that he was drenched him made him feel disgusting.

He lasted about half of the hike but in the end, wound up taking his shirt off and slinging it around his neck. Michelle was sweating too but didn't seem to mind all that much. She was puffing a lot more than him too, for obvious reasons.

The girl looked him up and down a couple times, seemingly surprised at his body. "How is a dorky guy like you so fit?"

"What," Peter looked down at his stomach, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're barely puffing and you have like washboard abs, that's not very loser of you," Michelle smirked, taking in a deep breath every couple of seconds.

"I work out," Peter laughed a bit. He was technically lying, Spider-Manning wasn't exactly lacking in the physical exercise side of things. "Why's that such a big surprise?"

"Shouldn't you look like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory or something?"

"First of all," Peter scoffed, "not even a good show, how dare you compare me to Sheldon, you could've at least said the other guy with the glasses and a hot girlfriend. I like to think I'm more of a- Hermione Granger,"

"Uh-uh, I'm the only Hermione Granger round these parts," Michelle poked his arm, causing him to look at her and smile.

"Sure, whatever," Peter smiled. "If you're Hermione I get to be Harry,"

"What? Selfish but with a hero complex?" Michelle huffed out in between breaths.

"Both his parents died, he was raised by his aunt and uncle, his main father figure died and he's chased down by a psychopath his whole life. I think he had a right to be a little selfish," Peter pointed out.

"Same shit happened to you and you're not selfish," Michelle said, glancing at him cautiously.

"I'm not exactly chased down by a psychopath unless this is your way of trying to tell me I'm about to die and you're the murderer," Peter laughed nervously. He'd been chased down by psychopaths for a decade.

"My plan has been foiled," Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Peter laughed for real this time, causing Michelle to smile.

Peter discovered that Michelle hadn't gone to college, she'd followed her cheating boyfriend to Hawaii instead and never returned. He discovered that she wanted to study anthropology and she wanted to be a writer.

It was mind-blowing how someone so smart could willingly let themselves be stuck at a shitty receptionist job for years. The more Peter talked to Michelle the more he realised she was smart, she was funny, she was beautiful.

When they got to the top, Peter pretended to be out of breath as they stood side by side, looking over the horizon. "I've never seen anything like this,"

"Never?" Michelle asked, surprised.

"I've never really left New York, I've been to a beach maybe twice in my life but never a beach like this," Peter said, still looking at the view.

"My god, where did you go on holiday?"

"We didn't. We didn't have enough money," Peter shrugged.

"So what did you do for fun?"

"Museums," Peter smiled and looked at her.

"No wonder you're so clever," Michelle replied, a complimentary yet sarcastic tone to her voice.

Peter laughed and shook his head, looking at the ground. He looked out at the view once more before turning to her. "Well this is my first holiday, I'm having an alright time so far,"

"Just an alright time?" Michelle whispered, her voice getting quieter as Peters' face came closer to hers.

"This moment is a highlight," Their lips were just about to touch when all of a sudden Michelle was no longer there anymore.

She'd jumped off the edge of the cliff, hollering as she broke the surface of the water, laughing when she came back up. Peters jaw dropped as she looked down at her. "What the fuck!"

"Cmon Peter! Jump! I can see your vagina from here!" Michelle yelled, smiling up at him.

"Fine," Peter threw his shirt on the ground and kicked his shoes off.

Peter took a small run-up before leaping off the cliffside, he launched himself a bit too far for a normal person but managed to tuck himself into a few flips before diving gracefully into the water. He kicked himself up to the surface, taking in a deep breath.

He flicked his hair out of his face, smiling at shocked looking Michelle. She quickly shut her mouth and swam over to him. "I didn't know you were a fucking Olympic diver,"

Peter laughed and wrapped his arms around her, helping keep her afloat. "I've got a lot of secrets, Michelle,"

"Oh, I bet," Michelle smirked as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "By the way, my friends call me MJ,"

"Ok, M-"

He was cut off by Michelle placing his lips on his own. Peter kissed back, taking in every tingling sensation that trickled across his skin when her fingers touched him. Her hands tangled themselves into his wet hair as his gripped her waist tighter.

Michelle pulled herself up higher, causing Peter to tilt his head to keep kissing her. She pulled away, looking down at him before pushing herself off his chest, swimming back to the shore while yelling for Peter to stop being a loser and catch up.

He smiled and shook his head, swimming after her.


	4. Chapter 4

Michelle, unfortunately, had another shift later in the day, so her time with Peter was cut short. She returned to the cumbersome spot behind the front desk and pretended to be doing work while she was really just scrolling through FaceBook.

She noticed a pair of feet slapping against the tiles heading towards her and put on her best fake smile. Walking towards her was the one and only Liz Allen. The model walked right up to the desk and crossed her arms, leaning on the surface.

"Good afternoon, Miss Allen, what can I do for you?" Michelle clasped her hands in front of her, pretending she didn't care one bit about Peters ex-girlfriend.

"Hi, Michelle. I was just wondering if there were any good sushi places nearby?" Lie.

Michelle began to ramble about a place that wasn't far from the hotel, getting out a map and drawing directions on it. Liz stared at her intently, studying every feature of the girls face as much as she could before they made eye contact again.

Liz smiled, taking the map. Her eyes darted from the desk and back to Michelle. "You are so pretty,"

"Thank you, so are you," Michelle genuinely blushed a little at the compliment coming from a literal model.

"No, but you're like- way prettier than me,"

"Oh, no, I don't think so," Michelle shook her head.

"Yeah, you are. You're like- - so stunning,"

"Thank you, Miss."   
A pause.

"I saw you with Peter today, Parker, Peter Parker,"

"Yes..." Michelle looked at her, warily.

"He's my ex," Liz added, giving a tight smile.

"Oh," Michelle pretended to be shocked as well as pretending to care. "I had no idea, I'm so sorry, Miss Allen,"

"No, no it's fine. Peter's a good guy," Liz said shakily. "A really good guy. Like a really good guy,"

"Yes, yes he is," Michelle said, biting down on the inside of her cheek.

"Well- I just wanted to say that, um, bye Michelle," Liz smiled small and walked away, wiping a stray tear.

Michelle was left in her post, baffled by the interaction that had just happened.

Meanwhile, Peter was down at the beach he was at the night before. He cursed himself for not putting a tracker on the guy but at least he knew his name. Looking around, he saw no one around so he pressed the ring, letting the nanotech cover his whole body.

Now Spider-Man, Peter strolled up and down the beach. "Karen, can you try track Luke Kamala for me?"

"Sure thing, Peter," Her familiar voice chirped in his air. "I've located his vehicle to the corner of Moana Street and Iosepa Street, now calculating the optimum route,"

"Thanks, Karen," Peter noted as a map appeared in the corner of his mask. "Alright, let's give this another try,"

Peter readied himself before taking off into the air, getting his balance before slowing pushing himself forwards. He eventually got the hang of it, going faster up until the point where he reached his destination.

He let the thrusters stop in the air, falling until he could connect himself onto a building with a web. Peter slowed his momentum down enough to allow him to safely land on the sidewalk.

Of course, this attracted attention. What was he thinking? Landing in the middle of the road. People pointed and shouted at him, he tried to wave and move on but of course, that didn't work out too well. People continued to crowd around him, he couldn't even get a word out so he did the next best thing, jumped onto the roof of a building.

"Suspect has been located through security footage of a local restaurant," Karen interrupted all the commotion.

"Take me there? Thanks, Karen," Peter followed her directions until he was on the roof of said restaurant. "I feel kind of bad, interrupting this guys dinner,"

"He's a criminal, Peter. He also betrayed and hurt Michelle,"

"That- is a very good point,"

"I know,"

"Don't get so up yourself, now how do we do this?"

"I've found an air vent system you can access and crawl through, you will end up across the room from the target,"

"Ok, thanks Karen, how many people are in there?"

"I've detected about 13 people in there,"

"Ok, let's do this,"

Peter took a deep breath before entering the air vent, crawling through it as best as he could. A couple of minutes later, he found himself with only a grate to separate him from the Sandman. No one was below, so he punched it open, swinging himself out with a web attached to the ceiling and landing in his now perfected pose.

"Fancy seeing you here, Mr Sandman,"

Peter watched as he slammed his fists against the table, causing it to snap in half from the hardened sand fists. He slung a web from each wrist that stretched to his fists before going straight through as the sand parted.

"Shit,"

Sandman stood up from the table and extended a hardened block of sand towards Peter. Peter flipped over it, attempting to web it to the wall, only for it to go straight through once again.

He'd clearly figured out a way to get around Spider-Mans tools, meaning Peter would have to rethink his tactics.

"Karen, can you do rapid fire taser webs? Is that a thing!" Peter yelped as he dodged another fist. 

The best thing about fighting in the city was that there wasn't a lot of sand for his enemy to draw on, which Peter now knew was an important part of the villain's powers.

"Web settings changed, Peter,"

Peter let them rip, watching as at least ten electrified webs hit the sand chest, they seemed to have shocked him for a couple of seconds but they eventually also passed straight through. He groaned but continued to shoot the taser webs at him, they seemed to falter his focus, making him a tiny bit weaker.

"Dude, I'm just trying to be the good guy here, you're not really helping with the whole 'good guy always wins' trope!"

Suddenly an idea hit him, the Iron Spider gave him Iron Man tech, including the repulsor technology. If Tony could fire blasts that could bust down walls, surely the same blasts would break down hardened sand, was that basically rock? Peter didn't care, it was worth a shot.

So he waited until he could feel another swing coming at him before setting it up and firing. Peter was right, the blast took sandman's hand right off. He was too excited he completely missed the fist reforming and was knocked backwards into the restaurant's wall, leaving a hole in it.

"Jeez dude, you're literally the rock. Like- you look like him and you're literally a rock, it's not fair," Peter leapt out of the hole in the wall, firing another blast at his hand.

"You talk too much," The most annoying enemy Peter had ever faced growled.

"You'd be surprised at how often I've heard that," Peter fires yet another blast straight at his chest, catching him off guard. He watched as the large man stumbled backwards, crashing into a table and knocking over a water jug.

The water seeped into him, turning his elbow into sludge. Peters' eyes widened. Of course, how did he not think of this before? Spider-Man ran out into the street, luring the oversized grain of sand to follow him.

Peter swung around a street sign and kicked a fire hydrant with both feet, causing it to break and spray water out like crazy.

Sandman began to turn a mess of sludge, reducing into nothing but a puddle of wet sand that was washed into the drain.

Peter sighed in relief and put his hands on his knees. "Thank god that's over with. Karen, is there any other crime going on?"

"No, Peter. I suggest you head back to the hotel and ask Michelle to go to dinner with you,"

"Since when were you my life coach?"

"I'm programmed to look after you and your best interest, I believe this is in your best interest,"

"Oh, well thanks Karen, maybe I will do that. Send the footage to Mr Stark starting from when I jumped out of the air vent,"

"Sure thing, Peter,"

Peter chatted away to Karen as he headed back to the hotel, talking about everything and nothing with her. It wasn't hard to forget she wasn't actually a real person, whenever Peter remembered she was just his AI, he got quite upset. Karen had been there for him through thick and thin and always told him how it was. She cut straight to the point and gave him the best advice. He didn't know how Mr Stark made her but he was so grateful he did.

He'd just landed on the roof of the hotel when Karen interrupted him by doing her job. "Incoming call from May Parker, would you like to answer it?"

Under the guise of the night, Peter hoped he would blend in and no one would see him. If people knew Spider-Man was staying at the hotel suspicions would be raised and Peter didn't want that at all. He answered the call and smiled at the sight of his aunt. "Hey, May,"

"Hi, Peter. How's Hawaii? I haven't heard from you in a while, everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm sorry, I've just been so slammed and Hawaii isn't as relaxing as I'd hoped,"

"I mean, you were going to take down some weird beach dude,"

"Yeah, yeah, he's gone but- Liz is staying at the same hotel,"

"Oh no, you're kidding!" May gasped, her jaw almost dropping to the floor.

"I wish I was kidding May, she's everywhere! She's with this famous singer guy too and they're always like- making out and it sucks,"

"She's already moved on?! That's ridiculous. She's already in Hawaii with another guy and you've been broken up what? Three weeks?"

"It's fine I mean- she said there was someone else when we broke up and you know some people move on faster than others. It's fine, really," Peter sighed, looking out at the ocean.

"It's not fine, Peter. You guys went out for years if you meant anything to her she wouldn't be hopping along to someone else so quickly,"

"Well, I can't say I haven't exactly been doing the same,"

"What does that mean? Did you meet someone? Girl, guy? Who?"

"Her name's Michelle, well, MJ, she works at the front desk of the hotel Mr Stark put me in. He gave this crazy room by the way, like, insane,"

"This Michelle character, is she nice? What's she like? Would I like her?"

"I think you'd really like her. She's smart and funny, she can speak like four languages, she's incredible. But like- it doesn't really matter because I'm only here for like three more days and it's just a fling I guess,"

"By the sounds of it, you don't want it to be just a fling,"

"I don't,"

Peter dropped down onto his balcony after the call ended, entering his room and getting changed into something more suitable for dinner than the running shorts he was wearing before.

He ran a hand through his hair as he made his way to the lobby. Peters' heart thumped louder and louder the closer he got to the lobby before finally seeing MJ at the desk. A small smile took over his face and he couldn't stop it.

MJ looked up from the computer and smiled at him. Peter clapped his hands and placed them on the counter, leaning into her.

"How can I help you, Mr Parker?" She asked, eyes raking over his features.

"Would you care to accompany me to dinner?"

Over the years, Spider-Man had managed to leak into Peter more and more. The confidence he exuded when wearing the mask soon turned into everyday confidence. Of course, he never let himself get cocky, staying true to himself no matter if he was Spider-Man or not. At heart, Peter was still the dorky 15-year-old boy who liked Star Wars a little bit too much.

Not to blow smoke up his own ass or anything, but Peter knew he was good looking. Sure, he was nerdy but doesn't every girl have a thing for nerdy guys? If Peter could date Liz Allen, a model, he was sure he could date anyone he wanted.

"I finish in 12 minutes, I'll get changed and then we'll go, ok?" Michelle bit her lip to hide a smile, avoiding eye contact with the boy in front of her.

"Sounds good," Peter smiled, before looking around and noticing that nobody was there. "Must've been bored out of your mind without me." He joked.

"Oh yes, these past few hours have been excruciating without you here to talk about nerdy shit like Harry Potter," MJ smirked, looking up at him while stapling together some paperwork.

"Hey, you engaged in the conversation as much as I did, I'd go so far to say you like Harry Potter more than me,"

"Of course I do," she scoffed. "It's the most immersive fictional world that's probably ever existed, there isn't a single thing J.K Rowling hasn't thought of and written out,"

"Alright, alright, I stand corrected," Peter smiled. "I take it you're a Slytherin?"

"I am, and you're a Hufflepuff,"

"I am so not a Hufflepuff, I'm a Gryffindor," Peter huffed, furrowing his brows. "It's the best house!"

"It's isn't, they're selfish, egotistical and obnoxious. You're not," Michelle pointed out, quirking an eyebrow. "Newt Scamander was a Hufflepuff and he was probably one of the bravest and most compassionate wizards in that universe,"

Peter hummed, staying quiet for a moment. "Maybe I am a Hufflepuff,"

"Of course you are, I'm always right,"

MJ and Peter were waiting to be seated when a grumble came from behind them, they both turned to see Liz and Flash standing behind them, looking flustered

"Oh uh, hey guys." Peter scratched the back of his head, stepping in closer to Michelle.

"Hey, dude, how's it going?" Flash said, a little too upbeat for the situation.

"Good, it's going good," Peter squeaked as he avoided eye contact with both Liz and Flash. "Uh, this is Michelle,"

Peter listened as they exchanged pleasantries and shot his head up at something Flash said.

"You should have dinner with us, it'd be fun!" Flash waved his hands around in excitement.

Peter and Liz both tried to stutter out replies, saying that it probably wasn't a good idea. Flash continued to insist until both negating parties simply gave up. Peter sighed and went as sat down with them, Michelle sitting next to him with Liz across from her.

The conversation started with a bit of small talk and Peter feeling incredibly awkward, once again reverting into his 15-year-old self. He bit the inside of his cheek and tapped his fork against the table. It took everything in him not to skull the two bottles of wine on the table in a few seconds just so he could be drunk for a short amount of time.

"-Oh it's so great, Peter's been to Germany too," Peter tuned into the conversation to see Liz gesturing towards him.

"Hm, what? Germany? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I've been to Germany," He stuttered, looking at Michelle and then at Liz again.

"Didn't you say you've never New York before?" MJ asked, furrowing her brows and running her finger along the rim of her wine glass. Liz raised her eyebrows, knowing that Peter had definitely left New York before on various different occasions for the same reason. She understood why he'd lied and almost felt bad for messing up his story.

"Oh well- I don't really count it I was there for like- three days. Mr Stark took me and it was 10 years ago now. But uh yeah, Germany, great place, yeah," He pushes the answer out of his mouth and replaced it by gulping down his entire glass of wine.

Liz cleared her throat and turned the conversation back to her. "I loved it, the people are so friendly and the streets are amazing. The buildings are so pretty, really cool place to shoot, you'd love it there,"

"I'd love to go, I've always wanted to see anywhere in Europe. So when's the movie coming out?" 

"Uh- it came out, a couple months ago, actually," Liz pursed her lips, looking at the table.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's an island so we don't- you know- out of touch, um, yeah,"

"Yeah, it didn't have a very big release so I get it, it's okay," Liz gave her a small smile.

"Well- did you like the movie?"

"Yeah, yeah I-"

"Awful film, terrible premise. I mean, 'oh what would happen if your mobile phone killed you' how can a mobile phone have an agenda?" Flash interrupted her, seemingly very passionate about the plot of Liz's movie.

"I told her that when she read the script," Peter cut in, smiling a little, "Like sure technology is advancing at incredible rates but were very far from phones being able to actually kill you,"

"Why didn't you listen to him? You're the voice of reason, dude," Flash explained.

"Why didn't you just take the battery out of the phone?" Peter shrugged, smirking a little.

"Exactly, battles over. You should've listened to him he's an engineer,"'

"Well," Liz started but was cut off by Peter and Flash continuing to mock the script. She raised her voice and tried again. "It was a metaphor you know, for addiction and society,"

"I mean- I get it, yeah. Maybe it could've been a better metaphor but yeah I get it," Michelle said, causing Peter to laugh into his drink and Liz to clear her throat and look away from the table.

"It's a metaphor for a shit movie, is what it is," Flash nodded along, leaning back in his chair.

"It's not for everyone- I- it's my first film and the film industry is hard to get into. Beggars can't be choosers, you know," Liz defended herself, her voice starting off loud and getting quieter as she went on.

"Well, you haven't been offered any jobs since, so, you know. That's saying something," Michelle pointed out, once again causing Peter to laugh but stifle it by biting down on his fist.

No one said a word but as the waiter walked by, Liz asked for another bottle of wine. The table was awkward for a while but when the food came out they managed to use that as an excuse to make no conversation.

But the whole table continued to drink, everyone getting tipsy except for Peter, even though he probably drank more than anyone else seated. They needed it to get through Flash's stupid waffling.

"-if you're in a situation with a woman why not do the most interesting thing you can do, you know? Why waste time having a chat when you can lose yourself with each other, to each other. Find yourself in something eternal, perpetual, lose yourself in fuck," Flash finished his monologue with a sip of his drink, leaning back into his seat from his previous position, leaning into the table with passion.

"Well- I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree," Peter smiled, tilting his head a little. "I like to get to know someone, if you end up sleeping together that's great- it makes it you know, more intimate and enjoyable," His eyes glanced to MJ briefly.

"What- what he's saying is he's gonna stick it wherever he wants but he-he- he's joking," Liz laughed drunkenly, waving her hand around.

"No, nah I'm not joking," Flash mused, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Soo- just so we're clear, so I can kind of, hone in on your general thesis and wade through all the bullshit," Liz spat. "You're telling me that you think you have the right to just- fuck anyone, anywhere, anytime,"

"Hm, yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying,"

"Well- you know, that sounds nice and all but" Liz hummed, narrowing her eyes. "Maybe for like a week tops, like Hawaii is nice and all but it's just an escape for people who can't deal with the real world," Liz looked at Michelle, turning the conversation onto her.

"Hm, yeah, with no personal shoppers and pet therapists, gosh it's such a hard life," MJ took a bite out of her food, looking at Liz and then to Peter. She took him by surprise by latching her hand onto the back of his head, pulling him into a kiss. Peter kissed back, humming in surprise and at the taste of alcohol on her lips. Michelle pulled away after a moment, leaving a blushing Peter behind. She looked back at Liz, glaring a little before adding; "I like living here,"


	5. Chapter 5

Peter and Michelle all but busted down the door to his room, pressing against each other as close as they could. Michelle ran her hands under his shirt, making him shiver under her touch.

"Wait, say something else in Italian," MJ said when she pulled away from his lips, breathless.

"Sei mio adesso," He whispered, so close to her face he could feel her exhales fanning against his own.

"I don't know what that means but I don't care, thank god for your Italian aunt," She pressed kisses to his neck as he laid them down on his bed.

"Well I thought Italians were meant to be good cooks but May sure did break down that stereotype," Peter tilted his head as she kissed him, tugging at her shirt.

She pulled it over her head, letting Peter rake his eyes over her body. Michelle took his shirt off, her own eyes snaking down his naked chest. She hummed in appreciation before connecting her lips to his again.

Peter hooked his arms around her back, pulling her torso up to meet his. He wanted nothing more than to be as close to her as possible, so that's what he did.

Peter always got what he wanted.

The next day, Flash had invited Peter to go surfing with him. Peter couldn't exactly say no, it'd make everything even more awkward and Peter was also too much of a pushover to say no.

It was going ok, Peter focused on catching waves rather than making conversation with Flash. However, there was a period of time where the water was oddly calm, meaning they both sat on their board next to each other, waiting for the next wave.

"It's so great out here, man. You know, just drifting and becoming one with the ocean. It's so great," Flash basked in the sun as he spoke, swinging his legs back and forth. Peter hummed, biting his cheek again and completely ignoring the bullshit coming from Flash's mouth.

"You know, past all the bullshit, you're so cool. I can see why Liz likes you," Peter said, looking at the man next to him.

"Yeah she's got a pretty good taste, I reckon,"

"Well she was with me for five years so, that's debatable," Peter laughed a little, looking into the water.

"You got four on me, man,"

"What?" Peter whipped his head to Flash. "You mean- you got with Sarah a year ago?"

"Yeah we've fucked loads of times, shit man, I thought you knew," Flash shrugged.

"What the fuck?" Peter spat. "How can you say that so casually? It-it, I don't know if you knew but cheating isn't usually a good thing to do, what the fuck, dude?"

Peter ignored whatever Flash was trying to say, probably more wishy-washy bullshit. He caught the next wave that came, Flash attempting to follow him. Peter was blinded by rage and the next thing he knew, he was carrying a knocked out Flash back to his room.

Liz looked up at Peter carrying Flash and slammed her magazine shut, rushing over to them. Peter dumped Flash on the bed and sighed. Liz clasped her hands over her mouth. "Oh my god, is he ok? What happened?"

"I can't remember, I think I hit him with a surfboard," Peter huffed.

"What do you mean, you can't remember? How can you not remember?" Liz exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well grand Budapest hotel over here told me a really funny joke. You wanna hear it? You'll laugh your ass off," Peter smiled bitterly, looking at Liz.

Liz furrowed her brows, "okay?"

"He told me- get this, he told me you two have been fucking for a year!"

Liz paled, her face falling and eyes widening. Peter brushed past her to leave the room but she reached out. "Peter-"

"No, Liz! Don't touch me!" Peter ripped his arm out of her grasp. "You don't get to touch me anymore, you fucked that up when you fucked him,"

"Peter, can you just listen to me?" Liz said, a desperate tone to her voice. "Please, can you sit?"

Peter paused, mulling the idea over in his head before crossing his arms over his chest. "Fine, I'm sitting because I want to sit, not because you asked me too,"

So Peter sat on the closest possible seat, sitting cautiously on the edge.

"Peter you're a great guy-"

"Liz, can you cut the bullshit? Just tell me why you cheated on me, no bullshit,"

"Fine," Liz sat down, looking straight at him. "It got really hard to be with you when you wouldn't be with me. You were always away working for Tony or saving the world and look, I get it. I never expected you to drop him for me. I tried Peter, I tried so hard to get you to just- pay attention to me again. You just- it always 'Tony this, Tony that, aliens, Avengers, I wanna be an Avenger, blah blah blah,' By the way, you're still not an Avenger. So was it really worth it?"

"I'm basically an Avenger," Peter grumbled.

"See!" Liz exclaimed, pointing at him. "There you go again! I just told you everything and all you can talk about is being a fucking Avenger. Have fun- fucking- have fun messing around with that receptionist, it's not going to last. Not with you have daddy issues and you being Spider-Man. I bet she doesn't even know, I know she doesn't know. She'll have the time of her life with you sneaking around every fucking night. My advice, get your shit together and have a look at your priorities because they're fucked up," At the end of her rant, Liz took a deep breath, blinking back her tears.

"I'm sorry, daddy issues?" Peter furrowed his brows. "I'm so sorry my parents are dead and my uncle was murdered. I'm so sorry Tony is the closest thing to a father I'll probably ever have again,"

"Peter I didn't- I didn't mean that. I just mean that you're so obsessed with him and impressing him and everything. Get over yourself. You just- you need realise you don't need him to validate yourself. You're an amazing person, Peter. You're so kind and caring and loving but-but you're so insecure. I tried to help you but you just- it was like you believed you were a piece of shit that deserved nothing good, ever. You deserve- everything, Peter. You didn't deserve to be orphaned when you were only young and you didn't deserve to have your uncle murdered and you sure as hell didn't deserve the blame for that. Peter, I loved you, so much and all I wanted was to keep you happy but- you can't love someone else properly if you can't love yourself,"

Peter was quiet for a moment, avoiding eye contact with Liz. He fiddled with his fingers, really wishing he was wearing a shirt right now. He stood up from the seat, taking in a deep breath. "See ya later, Liz,"

Without another word he left her room, walking up to his own room with his arms crossed over his torso. The first thing he did was put a damn shirt on and then he went and sat on the balcony.

Peter spaced out, his current state was comparable to the time Tony took his suit off him. All he did for the next hour or so was stare out at the ocean, counting the waves as they crashed into the shore.

Liz was right, he did place all his worth on Spider-Man and Tony's opinion of him. It was an all too familiar feeling of self-hatred every time he felt he disappointed Tony.

Ever since he was 15, Tony had been probably the most important person in his life. Other than May, of course. But his mentor's opinions mattered to him the most. All he wanted was to impress him and that often led to Peter landing himself in sticky situations.

But now it was like he'd been slapped and woken up in a different universe. He was starting to realise that Tony's opinion wasn't godsend. Perhaps he didn't have to live for Tony and instead live for himself.

Once he'd realised how much time he'd spent wallowing in self-pity, he made himself get up from the balcony and get out of his room. He popped down to the restaurant for some lunch, sitting at a table in the back of the room.

He ate quietly up until Ned approached him, Peter looked up at him and smiled small. Ned smiled widely back. "Hey, Peter. Haven't seen you in a while, how are you?"

"I'm good, I guess, yeah. Do you wanna sit?"

Ned nodded and sat down. "What's yo dude? You look... off,"

"Oh, well I just found out my girlfriend was cheating on me for a year before we broke up," Peter huffed, leaning back in his seat.

"Shit, dude. That sucks, I'm sorry. Cheating is the worst thing you can do to someone," Ned shook his head as he spoke, clearly upset that his new friend was upset.

"Yeah but- it's whatever I guess. We aren't together anymore and there's nothing I can do," Peter shrugged.

"Still, no one deserves to be cheated on but it happens all too often," Ned replied, looking straight at Peter and hoping that every word he was saying sunk in.

Peter hummed, tapping his fingers on the table. He gulped, crossing his arms over his chest and twisting his lips to one side. "It's just a shit feeling. I already never felt good enough for her and this just kind of- proves it I guess,"

"Proves it? If anything you're out of her league. You're like- the smartest person I've ever met and you know Tony Stark. No one can top that,"

Peter laughed a little, an actual smile crossing his face for the first time in hours. Ned smiled, enjoying seeing his friend not so down in the dumps anymore. "But who cares about Liz? I've been hearing about you and Michelle,"

"Oh," Peter blushed a little. "Uh yeah, she's- she's great,"

"Someone's got a crush, huh," Ned smirked. "Who needs Liz? Right?"

Peter laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. He cleared his throat and looked at the table, fighting a smile. Ned watched on, knowing the feeling he got when he thought about Betty, it made him feel like a 12-year-old having his first crush.

"You should go talk to her,"

"She's probably working,"

"No, she's not," A new voice joined in.

Both Ned and Peter looked up to see Michelle standing over them. Ned smirked and Peter blushed a little. "Hi, Michelle,"

"Hi Peter, Mr Leeds," She nodded at the two boys. "Peter's been looking rather depressed for the past hour, he looks like a kicked puppy. Mr Leeds, would you mind if I stole him for a second?"

Ned mumbled something but happily got out of his seat, saying goodbye to Peter, insisting he come to the beach with him and Betty again sometime. Of course, Peter agreed, giving him a genuine smile.

Michelle took his seat, sitting across from Peter. No matter how hard he tried to hide the dejected look on his face with a smile, it was painfully obvious he was upset. "What's wrong, nerd?"

Peter laughed a little. "Long story short- Liz says I have daddy issues, she was cheating on me for a year and apparently I'm too insecure to love? Something like that anyway,"

"Wow," Michelle's eyes widened. "She really didn't hold back, huh?"

"It's ok," Peter shrugged, "I mean I told her no bullshit and she gave me no bullshit,"

"I suppose that's true but still, it's not exactly fun to hear, is it?" Michelle said, her eyes never leaving his. She noticed Peters leg bobbing up and down, his finger tapping on the table non-stop and his cheeks constantly being sucked in.

Peter shook his head, ripping his own eyes away from her. "Is this what it felt like? When you found L- your ex-cheating on you. Like I feel like- I've wasted an entire year of my life, the whole thing was a fucking lie,"

"No,"

"Oh,"

"But that's because I didn't love this guy, I was young and stupid. Sure- it hurt but he wasn't worth my tears and I don't know what I was thinking moving across the country for him but oh well. I think everything happens for a reason and it led me here and I like living here," Michelle shrugged. "So I understand where you're coming from and I don't blame you at all for feeling that. It makes sense,"

"Maybe I should move here too," Peter joked, while also not joking at the same time.

"There's not really much for Spider-Man to do in Hawaii though is there?" A small smirk crossed Michelle's face as she watched him almost have a stroke on the stop.

Peter felt like his heart stopped. His eyes widened and his heart rate picked up dramatically. The hair on his arms was sticking up and the air in his throat was caught in a bubble.

"Relax, Parker. There's no point denying it, I'm far too observant for that. I'm not gonna run around telling people your terribly hidden identity, unmasking stupidly named superheroes is not my thing,"

"We can't talk about this here," Peter hissed, leaning forward. "And it's not a stupid name,"

He stood up from the table, grabbing her wrist and basically dragging her up to his room. He didn't say a word to her and nor did she until they reached the suite and the door was securely shut. "How did you- what?" 

"Let's see, Peter Parker, an intern for Stark since he was 14, same time Spider-Man first popped up. Went to Germany ten years ago, with Mr Stark, the same time the Avengers had a meltdown over the Accords. Is in Hawaii on 'Stark Business' and all of a sudden Spider-Man shows up in Hawaii. You get pummeled in the face, disappear, Spider-Man gets beaten up, you appear again and he's gone. It wasn't hard." Michelle listed off the various instances of Peter being careless on her fingers as he paced back and forth. "Peter seriously, calm down. I promise I'm not going to shout it from the rooftops. How no one else has figured this out, I don't know. Either I'm really smart or everyone else is really stupid,"

"It's probably both," Peter muttered, huffing. "I just- no one else knows except Mr Stark and the Avengers, of course, Aunt May and Liz. I'm not- I'm not exactly used to people just knowing,"

"I know, I probably shouldn't have sprung it on you like that, you look like I gave you a heart attack. You're not really that obvious I'm just extremely observant," Michelle pointed out in an attempt to calm the situation. "But I'm actually really curious. How did this happen? When? Who? Why? Tell me everything,"

He sighed and sat down on the couch, gesturing for MJ to join him. She sat down beside him, her body angled toward him. Peter explained everything. From the bite to his abilities to Germany to Aunt May and Liz finding out. He told her everything. His story finished with Peter explaining he was in Hawaii to do something about Sandman.

Michelle was silent for a moment. "Can I talk to Karen?"

"Sure," Peter laughed a little and took his phone out and held it between them. "Hi, Karen,"

"Hello, Peter. How are you today?"

"I'm good, thanks Karen, how are you?"

"I'm do not have human emotions but I have been programmed to care about you, so if you're good, I'm good,"

"That's cute, she's so cute," MJ pouted and looked at Peter who smiled.

"Who was that? Should I call Mr Stark?"

"No, Karen, this is Michelle, she wanted to talk to you,"

"Hello Michelle, Peter has talked about Michelle a lot recently, is this the same person?"

"Yes," Peter blushed a little, "This is the same Michelle,"

"It's nice to meet you, Michelle. You always seem to cause Peter's heart rate to increase when he talks about you, he produces more sweat and his pupils dilate. My research tells me these are all physical reactions to having a crush. I don't think he wants to crush you though,"

Peter groaned and blushed. He covered his face with his spare hand. "Karen- don't- first off, all that's not what having a crush means and second of all you can't run around telling people that,"

"I can not run around for I do not have legs,"

Michelle laughed loudly, Peter laughed as well, shaking his head. "Dude, I love her,"

"So do I," Peter smiled and looked at Michelle, "I think that's enough of Karen for today, bye Karen,"

"Goodbye, Peter. Goodbye, Michelle,"

Peter put his phone down on the couch and looked at Michelle. A faint blush tinted his cheeks and a wide smile never left her face. She leaned her cheek against her palm, her whole body leaning against the couch.

He opened his mouth to say something but he found himself with nothing to say. Instead, he just settled for a shy smile and waved his hands around exasperatedly. She rolled her eyes, "Loser,"

"Fuck you, I'm Spider-Man,"

"Hm, last time I heard he got his ass handed to him,"

"Clearly you haven't watched the news because I handed that beach boys ass back to him, so," Peter replied, a humble brag tone to his voice. Michelle smirked and rolled her eyes.

"You're still a loser,"

"Well- you fucked this loser, so,"

"Did I?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah," Peter whispered, leaning to her. "Yeah you did, don't act like you didn't love it,"

"I'm gonna act like I didn't love it,"

"Uh huh?"

"Uh huh," Michelle's voice was barely audible but Peter could feel her hot breath fan across his lips.

Peter's hand was just about to come up to cup her face, their lips hovering mere millimetres apart. He was just about to pull her into him when his phone started ringing. He recognised the ringtone and knew he had to pick up. Peter groaned slightly and pulled away, picking up his phone and answering it.

"What?"

"Woah what's crawled up your ass, Spider-Boy,"

"Nothing- nothing, why're you calling me? Right now?"

"I've had reports from Karen that Sandman is supposedly gone, good job kid,"

"Yeah well the water turned him to mud and he just- washed away, I'm pretty sure he's gone so now I can- how much longer am I in Hawaii for?"

"I can extended it if you want, but two more days as of now,"

"Can you maybe extended it to- maybe one or two more days?"

"Have a week,"

"Oh no- no Mr Stark I don't need another week," Peter glanced at Michelle quickly.

"Hm well, a little birdy told me you're quite smitten with Michelle Jones, a 24-year-old receptionist at the hotel, went to Riverside High School, was accepted into Columbia University but rejected the offer and moved to Hawaii instead. Do you wanna know her childhood address?"

"Tony- you- what the fuck you ran a background check on her," Peter hissed into the phone and turned away from Michelle. "No I don't want to know her childhood address, Tony you creep,"

"Well, I have to make sure you're not getting involved with some weirdo or another cheating model,"

"How do you know that? Tony stop tapping into my shit,"

"I've been tapping into your shit for ten years, you're behind Peter,"

"Do you see- do you see everything I do on my phone?" He asked wearily.

"Yes. I never knew you read so many Spider-Man erotica's,"

"I don't read- Tony stop talking,"

"Find different porn, the kinky shit is basic,"

"Tony,"

"Peter,"

"Tony I have to go- I was kind of in the middle of something,"

"I've been cockblocking you since you were 16 and it's the highlight of my day every time,"

"Fuck you,"

"Love you too, kid,"

With that, the phone call ended and Peter turned to face Michelle again, smiling sheepily. Michelle smirked.

"Spider-Man erotica?"

"I was curious!"


	6. Chapter 6

The next day when Peter went to visit MJ at the front desk, he saw Flash sitting on one of the couches with far too many suitcases around him.

Peter stopped in front of the singer, shoving his hands in his pockets. Flash looked up at him and his face softened from the hard frown it was previously in. He gestured for Peter to sit down across from him.

"So uh- you leaving?" Peter gestured to the bags around him. "What happened? Where's Liz?"

"Oh yeah- yeah Liz uh, I don't know how the fuck you spent so many years under her reign you deserve a fucking medal. You should have one of those stupid veterans discounts, being with her is a war zone," Flash snapped, leaning forward in the seat.

"Did you guys get in a fight? Or something?" Peter asked, clasping her hands together.

"Well- we aren't together anymore if we ever were together in the first place who fucking knows. She's nuts, dude. Count your lucky stars you got out that one," Flash sighed, leaning back in his seat.

"I mean-"

"You mean, 'yes Flash, you are so right, you're a genius.' Thanks, Peter, I know,"

Peter didn't want to reply in the fear he'd launch Flash into another ramble of bullshit. So instead he just nodded, pretending to go along with it. Peter still had no clue what the hell was going on.

Flash nodded towards a car that had just pulled up outside the hotel, telling Peter it was nice to meet him and that they should catch up sometime in the future. Peter watched as the singer exited the hotel, kissing the hand of each and every person he passed on the way to the vehicle.

He suddenly couldn't remember what he was in the lobby for. Peter stood up and almost as if he was on autopilot, making his way to Liz's room. Michelle watched on with furrowed brows, her heart sinking a little as she watched him leave.

His knuckles rapped against the door, one, two, three times before he waited a moment. The door swung open and a Liz with bloodshot eyes was revealed. Peter smiled small, looking her up and down. "I ran into Flash in the lobby,"

"Oh well, yeah, we had a fight and now he's gone," Her bottom lip trembled before she broke down into sobs, crashing into his chest.

Peter was shocked a little but rubbed her back awkwardly. His shirt was clutched tightly in her hands, her head buried in his neck. He relaxed a tiny bit, hugging her properly. The embrace reminded him of old times and he immediately felt more comfortable with her, thinking about how things used to be.

Liz was mumbling quiet 'sorries' against his chest, he wasn't sure what she was apologising for. Crying on him, cheating on him, breaking his heart, who knew? All he knew that he must've gotten too comfortable because before he knew it her lips were on his.

Peter pulled away quickly, looking at her with wide eyes. Liz wiped her eyes and looked at him. "Shit, Peter-"

"Tell me you're sorry," He whispered, gulping.

"I'm sorry," Liz whispered back, her hands cupping his neck as his lips crashed onto hers.

They kissed as if the whole place was burning down around them. Peter's hand captured her waist, pulling her in closer. Liz walked backwards until her knees hit the bed, causing her to fall onto it with Peter on top of it.

She pulled his shirt off and he pulled off hers, kissing each other's neck. Peter felt like he was floating, his head a million miles higher than his body. Every touch sent a ripple of heat through his veins, goosebumps following.

Peter breathing hitched as her hands undid his belt, his gut twisting in the worst yet best kind of way. He grunted as Liz put her hand down his pants, holding him firmly.

"You're not-"

"I know just- give it a second,"

So she did and she attempted to help in the best way possible. Nothing changed.

"Do I- Do you want my mouth?" Liz suggested, peering up at him. Peter nodded, agreeing that it was probably the best suggestion. He sat up, resting on his knees as Liz tried her best.

Sure it felt ok, but it didn't feel good. Nothing was happening no matter how badly he wanted it too. Peter sighed and told Liz to stop. She pulled away and looked up at him. "What's wrong?"

"This isn't working,"

"I know but we can- we can- keep going it'll be fine, it'll work,"

"No I don't think it's going too," Peter grumbled, zipping up his pants and getting off the bed.

"What do you mean- c'mon baby it's fine, it's fine it'll just take a little time," Liz scrambled to the edge of the bed.

"No- no, Liz. I don't think my dick likes you that much anymore- I don't think I like you very much anymore," Peter huffed, grabbing his shirt.

"What? What do you mean? Babe?"

"Well, maybe my dick doesn't wanna be around you anymore because you smashed my heart into a million pieces!" Peter got angry as he remembered the fact that Liz had been cheating on him for a year before they split.

"Peter-"

"Goodbye, Liz," Peter pulled his shirt on and left the room through the sliding doors that led to the beach.

Peter did what he did best, he ran, he ran as fast as he could down the beach before realising it was a stupid idea. So he ran back to the hotel and straight into the lobby. A lump formed in Peter's throat, from being out of breath and from the guilt and nerves he was currently feeling.

Michelle furrowed her brows as the flushed Peter approached her. He rests his palms on the table avoiding eye contact with her as he caught his breath.

"Peter, are you okay?" MJ asked, a concerned look on her face.

"I just-" Peter swallowed. "Whatever is going on between us I want us to be honest, yeah? Anyway I, well Liz and Flash got in a fight so you know I went to go to see how Liz was and things happened,"

"What things," Michelle pursed her lips.

"You know- not good things, bad thing, things I regret,"

"Peter," She gulped. "What did you do?"

"We fooled around a little,"

"Cut the bullshit, what did you do?" By this point, she knew exactly what they did and tears had welled up in her eyes.

"Well I- I was comforting her and then she kissed me because of the comforting and I kissed her back because she kissed me because of the comforting and we took our clothes off and she performed about 20 seconds of oral sex on me before I realised I was an idiot and left,"

"I need you to leave," Michelle gritted her teeth.

"Michelle-" He sighed.

"Peter, you need to go, now," Michelle looked away from Peter and at the computer, attempting to distract herself.

"MJ"

"No." She snapped, looking up at him. "My friends and my family call me that. You don't get to call me that anymore. You need to go,"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,"

"You know what Peter? You're a jerk, you're just a jerk who shouldn't be with anyone right now. Sort your shit out. Don't text me, don't call me, don't email me, don't write to me, don't attempt to contact me whatsoever, ever again," A tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly, praying he didn't see it. He did.

Peter didn't fight, he nodded. Michelle made it very clear what she wanted and who was he to not respect that. He back away from the desk slowly, looking at the ground. Peter looked up one last time to see her sniff, lowering her head so her hair would cover her face as to not show anyone she was crying.

With a final sigh, he turned his back to her for the last time. He pulled out his phone and asked Tony to get the jet ready for him to fly back to New York as soon as possible. A text came in reply asking why he was leaving but yes, a jet would be ready in two hours, Peter ignored it.

He managed to pack all his things away in a record time of 20 minutes and also make the bed and tidy the room a little bit. Peter had spare time to kill and well, the jet wasn't going to leave without him so technically he could take as much time as he wanted.

Michelle wasn't there when he returned his room key and he wasn't quite sure if he was upset about it or not. He left his suitcase at the lobby before heading to the restaurant and finding Ned and Betty.

Peter approached the table, a sad smile on his face. "Hey man," He cleared his throat, causing the couple to look up at him. "And Betty, I uh- I just came to say bye, something came up and I'm getting a plane out of here in about an hour,"

"Oh man," Ned frowned. "That sucks but it was nice to meet you, Peter, we should hang out back in New York sometime,"

"Yeah definitely," Peter nodded. "I'll call you,"

Ned stood up and wrapped Peter in a big hug, wishing him safe travels. Peter also wished him well, saying goodbye to someone he now considered a good friend.

On his way to the jet, he grabbed himself a coffee and some McDonalds, munching on it in the car Tony had ordered for him. He couldn't let himself think, if he did, he'd cry. Peter couldn't afford to cry right now.

He threw away the trash and boarded the jet, taking a seat near the back and thanking the air hostess, asking for an entire bottle of whiskey. Peter settled in for the long flight, putting on a movie.

He drank the liquor straight from the bottle and halfway through the movie, noticed the air hostess looking at him intently. Peter cleared his throat, staring back, his eyes never leaving hers as he drank.

He beckoned her over with a simple hand gesture, pretending not to notice the exaggerated way she moved her hips. Peter smiled up and her, looking her up and down once.

"Do you need anything, Mr Parker?"

Fuck it, he's Spider-Man. He has literally nothing to lose.

"You,"

Peter stumbled off the Jet that had landed at the Avengers compound. He'd downed probably 20 bottles of liquor and it turned out, if he held his pee in, he could, in fact, get drunk. Sure, he wasn't that drunk but he was drunk enough to be considered drunk.

Tony's face fell when he saw the ever agile Spider-Man nearly fall down the last step. He approached the 24-year-old, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Peter smiled crookedly, his eyes lazy. "Turns out I can get drunk if I really want too,"

"Kid, why would you really want too?"

"Because drunk me isn't sad, sober me is sad,"

"Why would you be sad? I sent you to Hawaii not a concentration camp,"

"You may as well with Liz there fucking everything up for me," Peter slurred a little, frowning. "Stop making me sad, why do you always make me sad?"

"Whatever kid, now come inside, we'll bet you some water and some food, I know you're hungry, you're always hungry," Tony led him inside with a hand constantly on his shoulder.

"I already ate, if you know what I mean," Peter laughed and winked horribly at his father figure.

"Goddamnit these air hostesses," Tony grumbled and shoved Peter inside. "FRIDAY, ask Pepper to come to the kitchen,"

"Mrs Stark is on her way,"

Tony guided Peter to the kitchen table, pulling out a chair for him and shoving the drunk boy into it. He sighed, grabbing him a glass of water before standing over him with crossed arms.

"Why do you look like a disappointed dad?" Pepper asked as she walked in, her eyes flickering from Tony to Peter who was leaning sloppily on his hand. The couple watched as his head fell off, causing his whole body to jerk and making him sit up in his chair with what looked like an attempted fighting pose. "Is he drunk?"

"Nope,"

"Yup,"

Both Tony and Peter popped the P, causing Pepper to roll her eyes at the similarities of the two. She couldn't believe the future of Stark Industries lay with a boy who was almost exactly the same as his predecessor.

"Why is he drunk?" Pepper sighed.

"Because he's sad,"

"Why is he sad?"

"Because," Peter slurred. "There was this girl I really really really liked in Hawaii but then Liz sucked me off for like 20 seconds but then I was like 'nuh uh you broke me and my dicks heart' so I left and told Michelle the truth because I wanted to be honest with her and she told me to fuck off so I left and had sex with the air hostess on the way back and I'm sad,"

Pepper walked right on up to Peter and because his reflexes were comprised thanks to his intoxicated state, he wasn't able to catch her hand before it slapped him right across the face. "Look, I don't care how many people you sleep with but I do care how many peoples hearts you toy with, pull your shit together Peter,"

"Ow," Peter said after a moment of silence his hand coming up to cup his now red cheek.

"You kind of deserved that," Tony pointed out, causing Peter to narrow his eyes at him.

He closed his eyes, resting his forehead on the table in an attempt to stop his head swimming. It felt like everything was spinning as he pressed his palms to the side of his head. Muffled voices were talking around him, probably about him but he wasn't bothered enough to look up or listen in.

Eventually, when he looked up and his eyes readjusted to the light, he could see pretty much every single member of the Avengers standing around the table. "Oh for fuck's sake,"

"Language!"

"I'm 24 I can do what I want," Peter grumbled, avoiding the eyes of every person.

"You are still a very small mortal, smaller than the average," Thor mused, looking rather proud of his observation.

"Alright, I get it, I'm short, stop pointing it out,"

"Peter, what's he's trying to say," Steve said, rounding the table to come up next to him. "Is that you are still a fifteen-year-old kid to us that's a little annoying and far to excited to be nearly killed by people every day,"

"What the fu-

"Language," He continued. "I just mean that we all still hold paternal instincts over you and we care about you like you're our own kid. We all know Tony would blast someone into next year if they hurt you,"

"Next decade," Tony added.

"Can you blast Liz into next decade? She broke my heart twice now,"

"Wait," A new voice jumped in. "This is about girls? He's acting like a little bitch because of a girl?" It was Nat, now no longer feeling protective over the boy.

"It would appear so," Tony replied. "Look, Peter, as the heir to my throne, my successor, my prodigy, the person who's going to have to live up to legacy, you're going to be getting all the girls you want wherever, whenever. So let's just build a bridge and get over it,"

"I don't want all the girls, I want Michelle," Peter whined, pouting.

"Wait- first he's talking about Liz who the fuck is Michelle?" Nat asked.

"The receptionist at the hotel I booked him who Peter has apparently fallen in love with,"

"Peter," Natasha sighed and sat next to him. Over the years she's grown to be a sort of big sister to him, she'd trained him since he was 16 and a bond had formed over time. "You just got out of a long-term relationship with a girl who you thought you were going to marry, you shouldn't be jumping into anything else when it's been what? A month? You need to give yourself time to reflect and learn and grow so that the next relationship you get into has a chance of surviving. You have to start it out right if you want it to last,"

"I know but," Peter snuffed, leaning his head on her shoulder. "She just- Michelle just- I don't know. She saw me and she didn't hate it and I liked her and it just happened,"

"You're a good person Peter, you just need time to move on from Liz," Her hand came up to run through his hair.

"I did move on, I moved on with Michelle,"

"No, that's not what I meant, I meant you need to move on- move on with yourself. You need to be confident in who you are again and not feel like you need to be in a relationship to feel loved and appreciated,"

Peter was quiet, everyone was quiet.

"Well," Tony sighed. "Let's get bugboy to bed before he has sex with another girl and cries about it,"

"Hey, I don't do that," Peter frowned, sitting up. "I cry about other things after sex, not the actual sex,"

"Whatever you say," Tony hook an arm under Peters and hauled him out of the chair.

The father and son made their way to Peters bedroom at the compound, Tony having to support pretty much all of Peters weight because the boy didn't feel like supporting himself.

Tony dumped him on the bed, huffing as the boy's weight fell off him. Peter flopped onto the bed but sat up, resting his head on his hands. The boy sighed, looking up at Tony was looking down at him with his hands on his hips.

"I know your life is shit right now or whatever. But here's something to cheer you up, I know I've joked about this but I wasn't really kidding. If you'll accept it, I want you to be the heir to Stark Industries,"

"What?" Peter furrowed his brows.

"This really wasn't how I planned on telling you but oh well. You're the closest thing to a kid I have. Fuck that, you are my kid. You're also the smartest person other than myself I've ever met. You're a good person, Peter. You turned down being an Avenger once and now I'd like to officially offer you a position in the Avengers and heir to Stark Industries, think about it, okay?"

"Tony I don't think I'm ready for that. Maybe the Avengers but not- I can't run Stark Industries," Peter forced out a dry laugh, hardly believing his ears. Did being drunk make you hallucinate? Not that he was even that drunk any more thanks to his metabolism.

"I don't mean straight away, kid. I mean in a few years time, whenever you're ready. Pepper and I will train you on the business side of things, show you the ropes. I'm not thrusting this whole thing on you and leaving you alone, that would be cruel and you'd fuck up my legacy. So we'll slowly induct you and teach you until you're ready. I know you can do it, I wouldn't ask you if I didn't believe in you, Peter," Tony's hand landed on the boy's shoulder. "Plus, you'd be a billionaire overnight,"

"That'd be- that'd be nice," Peter whispered.

"Damn right it's nice, now think about it,"

Tony left and Peter thought about it. He thought about it for months, he talked to May about it, he talked to almost everyone he knew about it, except for Ned.

Peter and Ned had become quite good friends over the months, as well as Betty. The couple had introduced him to a lot of amazing people he was so happy to be able to call friends. Peter was often at Ned's house, watching Star Wars and eating pizza whenever Betty had quiz nights with her friends.

Ned didn't know Peter was Spider-Man, Peter didn't want him to know. It wasn't that Peter didn't trust him; it was just that Peter enjoyed having friends that knew him as just Peter not 'The Spider Kid.'

But Tony's offer was the only thing on his mind for months, well, that was a lie. He thought about Michelle a lot. How was she? What was she doing? Was she ok? Peter had almost completely forgotten about Liz entirely. He hadn't seen her since Hawaii, having gathered all his things from their old apartment before she came back.

He'd officially moved into the Avengers compound, officially living in the room Tony had kept open for him for ten years now. Peter had asked May to move in but May didn't want too, instead of continuing to live in the apartment she had lived in for so many years. However, she did let Peter pay for the rent.

Of course, he continued Spider-Manning every day. He still looked out for the little guy but tagged along to Avengers missions, now a valuable asset to the team rather than a liability.

But it was a conversation with Ned that got Peter to make up his mind.

It was at another one of their hang out nights at Ned's place while Betty was out.

"You know man, Betty asked me to marry her, not the other way round like everyone thought it was and think it should be. I didn't answer straight away because I was so confused by the- unexpectedness and boldness of the gesture but it only took me a few minutes to say yes, you know why? Because even though I didn't think I was ready, I wanted too, she wanted too and I think if you really want something you will find a way to make it work. Who knows what would've happened if I said I wasn't ready, I probably wouldn't be as happy and content with life as I am right now. Sure, it was kind of scary but we did it and I don't regret it one bit,"

Unrelated to taking over Stark Industries but it gave Peter his answer. He knew it was the right one.


	7. Chapter 7

4 months later.

He couldn't help it, he was nervous. Peter could feel himself sweating through this incredibly expensive suit and it made him feel awful. The cufflinks were being fiddled with relentlessly and he could see that Happy wanted to cut Peter's hands off.

His head snapped to May who was standing next to him, a hand on his back. She smiled reassuringly at her nephew, rubbing circles into him. Thank god for May, without her Peter would be fucked.

Just a few months ago Peter had been in the same position but it was different. He was Spider-Man that time. Tony had introduced the world to the newest Avenger, a familiar face but Peter had the Iron Spider on that time. No one knew who he was still, just Spider-Man.

This time, he didn't have a mask to hide behind. Tony gave him a sharp pat on the back, not a word was spoken to Peter as the billionaire stepped onto the stage in front of hundreds of reporters.

Pepper approached Peter, standing next to him. She smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be okay, Peter. It's not so bad once you're up there,"

All he could do was nod as he listened to Tony begin his speech.

"Good evening everyone, thank you all for coming," The room went quiet. "As you all know, today I will be announcing my successor and the heir of Stark Industries. Exciting, I know but you're not getting rid of me that easily.

"This young man will be taking over when he is ready and when I'm ready to hand it all over. It may be in a few short months or ten years, who knows? I don't. I'm sure you're all dying to know who he is but let me just say a few words about him.

"I've known this man since he was just 14 years old. Even at 14 he was one of the smartest people I've ever known and I exist. This remarkable boy is exactly that, remarkable. He's got a heart of gold and balls of steel, I know because I've been busting them for a decade. He managed to win me over in the space of 20 minutes and I know he'll win you all over too.

"He currently works for me as an electrical engineer, which he has a PhD from MIT in. He is probably the best employee I've ever had and Mrs Stark used to work for me. He is so incredibly hard working and determined and I could never imagine handing over the reigns to anyone but him.

"Now, I'd like to introduce you to the heir of Stark Industries, Mr Peter Parker,"

With that, Tony stepped away from the podium to clap and welcome Peter onto the stage with him. But Peter was frozen, he couldn't move until May shoved him.

Peter stumbled a bit but managed to correct himself just before he walked up the steps. He took a deep breath and focused on Tony as he walked across the stage.

Curse his hyper sensitive hearing because he couldn't tune the audience out no matter how hard he tried. He tugged at the front of his suit jacket before finally reaching Tony and shaking his hand, smiling tightly. Peter was surprised when Tony pulled him for a quick hug before directing him to the podium where the microphone was. "You'll be fine, I'm right here,"

Tony stood a short distance behind Peter, crossing his arms in front of him. Peter cautiously walked up to the microphone, avoiding looking out at the audience as much as he could. It was inevitable though and holy shit. "There's so many people here," He whispered, forgetting that the whole point of a microphone was to amplify your voice.

Everyone laughed, causing Peter to blush a little bit but laugh none the less. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "First of all, I just wanted to thank Tony for being one of the most important people in my life for over ten years now and I'm so thankful for him everyday. As much as he pretends to be a hard ass, he's not but don't tell him I said that.

"When Tony asked me if I wanted to take over I thought he was pulling my leg. It wasn't exactly the most typical of situations to propose this type of thing to someone but I won't get into too many details. It took me a very long time to give him an answer, months actually, I thought that by then he surely would forget about but he didn't. He was actually a real pain in my ass about it and for that I almost said no.

"I didn't say yes straight away because I thought I wasn't good enough. I wasn't ready to take over a billion dollar company. I don't think anyone would ever be ready but- but Tony wanted me to do this and well- I wanted to do it too. I want to do this for myself, for Tony and to make this company the best it can possibly be.

"I've looked up to Tony since I was- I don't know, eight years old and the fact that he wants me to take over is- it's insane. I'm so honoured to even have met him and even happier to consider him a friend and- and most importantly, a father figure.

"I met Tony just a few short months after my Uncle Ben was murdered. My parents were killed in a plane accident when I was a baby and I was raised by my fathers brother and his wife, my Aunt May."

Peter turned his head to look at May, she was standing at the edge of the stage with tears rolling down her cheeks. He smiled at her and May smiled back her hands clasped at her chest.

"Needless to say, it was an incredibly difficult time for me, having no blood relatives left whatsoever but my Aunt, being the wonderful lady that she is, loved me as if I was her own child. Then Tony stepped in and- as intimidating as he is and as indifferent as he acted he would do anything I asked of him in a heart beat to make sure I was happy and looked after, no matter what. I owe my life to him, he saved it in more ways than one,"

"What Ben taught me is that with great power comes great responsibility and I'm ready to take on every responsibility. On that- serious note, thank you, I hope I haven't disappointed anyone who excepted- I don't know, Captain America or something,"

Peter laughed nervously and stepped away from the microphone. The audience of reporters and other people Tony invited and Peter had no idea who they were immediately broke out into applause and hands were raised, ready to ask questions.

Tony walked up beside Peter and pointed at random reporters, answering questions and making them all laugh which Tony was scarily good at. A question popped up aimed specifically at Peter, causing him to snap out of the trance he'd put himself in.

"Mr Parker, how exactly did you meet Tony Stark?"

"Uh," Peter went to the story he'd used since he was 15. "Well I started interning for him when I was in high school and it sort of just- kicked off from there,"

"How did you find out about the interning position?" The same reporter questioned.

"I applied for a September Foundation thing I saw online, I can't remember specifics now but Tony must've liked my application because he picked me up,"

"There have never been any other reports of Mr Stark having interns so why you?"

"Alright," Tony cut in, "Thats enough questions,"

"Why are you lying?" The woman asked, a small smirk on her face.

Peter bit the inside of his cheek. It'd been ten years, it was time.

"Alright," Peter said, causing Tony to look at him. "The truth is," He glanced at his mentor, who's eyes were widening but he also looked proud at the same time. "I am Spider-Man,"

Peter thought May was actually going to stab him once he got off the stage. She went off on a tangent about how everything was going to change now that the world knew he was Spider-Man.

Tony on the other hand, couldn't be prouder. Of course he understood why Peter had wanted to keep it a secret but he felt that Peter had chosen the right time to tell everyone. It was going to have to happen sooner or later.

Peter tried his best to calm May down, reassuring her that everything was fine. It ended up with her sobbing into her nephews chest. She was crying tears of pride and tears of anger, mainly pride.

"Alright, clean yourselves up we have an after party to get to," Tony clapped one hand on Peter's shoulder and the other on May's leading them to the massive room where people were already milling about.

The second they all entered, Peter was all but blinded by the camera flashes, how he wished he had his suit on right now. He forced a smile and followed after Tony, pushing through the crowd of reporters with Happy yelling all sorts at them.

"Other than this patch of assholes, everyone in this party is people I know personally and you can trust them,"

Peter nodded, wrapping his arm around May's waist securely. They made their way over to the bar where Tony got them all drinks, each person sipping on their own.

Pepper and May were caught in their own conversation, probably about how insane the men in their lives are. Tony was talking to various people and moving on when he got bored.

Peter sat at the bar, swishing a drink around his cup.

"Why so glum? Spider-Dork?"

He froze at the sound of the familiar voice. Peter turned and his breath hitched.

"Michelle,"

"You don't look all that pleased to see me, Peter,"

"W-well, I mean- you know,"

"I know, we didn't exactly end on good terms did we but I've come to the realisation I was being a bit of a stupid and over dramatic bitch and I hate those people," Michelle gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Do you wanna-" Peter nodded his head towards a pair of doors that lead to an outdoor balcony. Michelle nodded and followed after him.

The two stood side by side and leaned against the railing that overlooked the city. Both were quiet until Peter noticed the most obvious thing.

"Why are you in New York?"

"I'm studying," She smiles. "Anthropology and journalism,"

"That's- that's amazing, Michelle," Peter said, genuinely happy for her. "How did you- how'd you get into this party,"

"Your boss is a bit of a fucking stalker,"

Peter laughed. "I know, he tracked me down by my voice to whisk me away to Germany,"

"I'd still kill to go to Germany," Michelle whispered.

"I'll take you to Germany, if you'll let me," Peter said, looking at her.

"I dunno. Sorted your shit out?" She asked with a smirk.

"I'm the heir to Stark Industries and I just announced to like 100 million people that I'm the superhero everyone's been trying to unmask for the past decade, I think my shits been sorted out,"

"That side of your shit but I mean your-" She presses a finger to his chest. "-shit."

"Oh my emotional turmoil? Yeah that's done," Peter smiled and joked. "Who's Liz?"

Michelle smirked and shook her head. "I dunno but I'm dying to know who May is,"

"The single most important person in my life, that's who,"

The girl smiled and looked at Peter. Unlike Hawaii, Peter looked genuinely content. His whole face was soft, a small smile gracing his features. She watched his eyes shimmer under the night sky, she was happy that he was happy.

Her eyes scanned up and down the suit he was wearing, noticing the expensive sheen to it. She assumed Tony Stark probably made him wear it and rightfully so, he couldn't have the heir of his life's work looking like he rolled out of bed twenty minutes ago even though that's exactly what he did.

Peter turned to look at her, taking his turn to look her up and down. She was wearing a pant suit and her hair was incredibly curly. Not as curly as it was on a tropical island but New York wasn't exactly the most humid of places.

"Stop checking me out, creep," She joked, bumping his shoulder with her own.

"Don't pretend like you didn't just do the same, I could feel you staring at me," Peter pointed out, a cheeky smile on his face. Michelle rolled her eyes playfully in response.

The two remained silent for a while. "You never called," Michelle spoke quietly.

"You told me not too,"

"I lied, of course I wanted you to call, instead I just got a call from Tony Stark and we got in an argument about the Accords even though it's old news,"

"Only you would get in a fight with Tony Stark the first time you have a conversation," Peter shook his head and laughed.

"I'm a journalist what can I say. I have opinions that are always right so," Michelle shrugged, causing Peter to smile even wider.

"What's your opinion on me then?"

"That you're a little shit who didn't call me even though I so badly wanted you too and I can't stop thinking about you even though I only knew you for a week and it's driving me insane,"

"Non ho fatto che pensare a te," Peter whispered, stepping in closer to her.

"You can't speak italian and expect it to win me over every time," Michelle glared at him.

"Did it work this time?" He smirked.

"Yes," Michelle grumbled and latched her arms around his neck. His arms wrapped around her waist, his breath fanning her face.

"Then I'll keep doing it, Michelle,"

"It's MJ,"

With that, it just felt right for Peter to finally kiss her again. They both melted into each other, putting the months of longing behind it. Her curls tickled his cheek and he tangled a hand in it, cupping her face.

He pushed her up against the barrier, bracing one hand against it. Michelle smiled against his mouth, causing him to do the same.

Someone cleared their throat behind them causing Peter to jump away from MJ, turning quickly. Peter scratched the back of his neck at the sight of Tony, raising his brows at Peter. "You're blowing off a party I threw just for you to make out with a girl?"

"In my defence Mr Stark, you know I don't like parties that much," Peter pointed out. "Plus, Im pretty sure Pepper organises this whole thing, not you,"

"Pepper and I are a package deal, whatever she does I've technically done and vice versa. Your point is invalid,"

"Pepper would kick your ass if she heard you say that," Peter said, smirking at the older man.

"You must be Michelle," Tony ignored Peter and offered a hand to Michelle. "You know who I am,"

"Do I?" She retorted and shook his hand firmly.

"Yes, you do." Tony quirked a brow.

"Do I?" Michelle asked again, narrowing her eyes at the billionaire.

"I like you,"

"I don't care,"

Tony looked at Peter, slapping him on the shoulder. "How did nerdy Spider-Boy land you?"

"He didn't land me, Tony,"

"Then what did he do?"

"Nothing,"

"You two," Peter interrupted. "Are creepily similar and it makes me uncomfortable,"

"I like her,"

"I still don't care,"

MJ was introduced to May and needless to say, May loved her. Michelle stood with her back leaning against Peter's chest the whole time she spoke to May. His hand held her waist gently and rubbed gentle circles into her skin where he had pushed her clothing up a little.

He didn't talk much but instead listened as the two intelligent women interacted, occasionally spacing out when he realised he wasn't needed. Instead, he pulled out his phone, checking the device he hadn't checked in hours now.

Ned: are you watching the stark live-stream??

Ned: this is gonna he insane bro

Ned: the heir to stark industries is gonna be so rich i wish i was the heir to stark industries. do you know who it is???? did your boss say anything????

Ned: DUDE NO WAY

Ned: I LITERWLLY HAVE TO BE DRESMING NO FUCKING WAY

Ned: THAT IS NOT YOU DUDE WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME

Ned: ID BE MAD BUT YOURE THE HEIR TO STARK INDUSTRIES I CANT BE

Ned: Can i be your head of security. like your happy hogan to my tony stark or something

Ned: WAIT WHAT

Ned: YOU ARE NOT SPIDERMAN NO FUCKING WAY

Ned: IM HEST FRIENDS WITH SPIDERMAN

Ned: FUCK BEING HEIR TO STARK INDUSTRIES IM SPIDERMANS BEST FTIEND

Ned: wait why didn't you tell me.

Ned: can i wear the suit

Peter bit his lip and tried not to laugh.

Peter: oops? surprise!

"What's so funny, hm?" May asked raising an eyebrow at her nephew.

"It's just Ned, he's like, freaking out," Peter replied as he shoved his phone back in his pocket.

"Ned as in- Ned Leeds? Ned, Ned?" Michelle asked with furrowed brows.

"Yeah," Peter laughed. "He lives in New York, he's like my best friend now, as much as he never shuts up about how cool it is I work with Tony Stark,"

"Well he's never going to shut up now, is he?"

"No, he's really not,"

Peter returned to his phone, answering all Ned's pressing questions as much as he could. Of course, he was often interrupted by people asking for interviews or photos, it was the strangest thing he'd ever experienced. Peter was basically a celebrity now and he wasn't sure how to deal with it.

He was polite as he always was, answered pretty much every question thrown at him unless they were too personal. In that case, he'd do what Tony had told him to say, 'no comment'. He couldn't help but blush and feel a little guilty whenever it came out of his mouth but the reporters never seemed to care, jumping right into the next question.

So the night went on like this until Tony finally decided to quick everyone out because he needed his 'alone time.'

Peter was staying in the compound that night because he was lazy and it was so much easier just to go to the room he already had there. He bid farewell to May, giving her a massive hug and begging her not to cry again. She did anyway.

All that was left was MJ, who he had asked to stay behind and she happily complied. With one final handshake he sighed and turned around, giving MJ a tired smile.

He made his way back over to her and she immediately placed one hand on his neck and the other on his chest affectionately.

Peter smiled at her as his hands wrapped around her waist. MJ smiled back, stroking his cheek with her thumb.

"I'm really glad I'm in New York,"

"I'm glad you are too,"

"Sei il mio eroe,"

"Is that the only thing you learnt to say?" Peter grinned. She shook her head.

"Non posso vivere senza di te,"

"I can't live without you too,"

And with that, he kissed her and it felt like, thank god.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heheh thank you all so much for reading. if you've seen this on wattpad thats because it is I, king, it's still me lmao I haven't stolen this from anyone. hope you guys enjoyed and i hope to be posting something else soon hehe. thank you!! kudo's and comment's are appreciated :)


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